


My Neophyte

by EvenEcho, kiizamis



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Bottom Harry Potter, Creature Harry Potter, Creature Inheritance, Dark Arts, Dark Harry Potter, Dark Lord Harry Potter, Harry is Lord Black, Masochism, Mentor Voldemort, Multi, Mythical Beings & Creatures, Necromancy, Not Beta Read, Polyamory, Sadism, Slytherin Harry Potter
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-24
Updated: 2017-10-08
Packaged: 2018-11-03 12:16:43
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Underage
Chapters: 8
Words: 82,744
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10967052
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EvenEcho/pseuds/EvenEcho, https://archiveofourown.org/users/kiizamis/pseuds/kiizamis
Summary: Harry Potter decided to help save Voldemort in first year. Voldemort always rewards his faithful and loyal.The rise of the Dark Lord Asmodeus and the fall of the Saviours.First chapter is first year. Second chapter starts four years later, during fifth year.-Rewrite in the works with more content and actual editing.





	1. Neophyte

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> None of this fic has been beta read. If anyone is interesting in beta reading for the rest of the story, then that would be appreciated. Thanks. 
> 
> Enjoy c:

Neophyte:

[ **nee** \- _uh_ -fahyt]

_Noun_

  1. A beginner or novice
  2. A person newly converted to a belief as a heathen, heretic, or nonbeliever; proselyte



***

    Before him was the possibility of his death. He watched as his Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor used the Dark Arts. Professor Quirrell forced Harry in front of the Mirror of Erised and Harry could see his reflection stared back at him with the same confused look on his face. Every Time, so far, that Harry has opened his mouth to speak, his professor has interrupted him. How can he voice his questions and demands when he isn’t given a chance to speak. Finally Quirrell’s hand gripped onto his shoulder and Harry turned around, pointing his wand at the man.

    “What are you going to do, Potter?” He spit Harry’s last name and Harry sighed. He didn’t know much, if anything about this world. The world of magic. He wanted to know it though, he already loved it. He had friends -- they were friend, right? -- and he had professors who didn’t send him home to be yelled at. He did well in his studies, better than Ron, but when he got near Hermione’s marks she would rip into him for trying to up her and how it was wrong to be too competitive. It felt wrong. It reminded him of Dudley, of the Dursleys and he hated them. By extension, did he hate Hermione? When Ron shoved gross amounts of food into his big mouth like a pig, he felt sick. Did he dislike Ron? Did they truly like him? They had been so concerned about who he ‘was’ that they didn’t get to know who he _was_.

    “Why do you want the stone? What if _I_ want it?” Harry took a step forward, his wand pressing into his professor’s chest. Quirrell’s wand came out from his sleeve and he pointed it back at Harry.

     “I want my body back,” Quirrell’s mouth did move. Harry levitated the turban off of his head and the voice got louder. “I want it back and I want the stone you brat,” Harry wanted to see where the voice was coming from. Quirrell turned around on command and Harry saw a grotesque face on the back of his bald head. “Give me the stone, join me and you will have everything and learn everything. We will be great, Harry Potter.”

    “I assume you’re Voldemort then,” Harry whispered and Quirrell scoffed but the face on the back of his head silenced him and reprimanded him for his rudeness. “I’ll give you the stone, but you have to find me when you get your body back and you have to take me with you. I can’t go back to them, I can’t do it and I don’t want to. They are horrible and I want to… I want to hurt them, I want to make them suffer,” Harry looked down, he reached into his pocket and offered the stone to Quirrell who took it from him. “Please, don’t make me go back to them.”

     “When I get my body I will collect you, Mr. Potter. I will collect you and you will never have to see those people ever again,” Voldemort had no idea who Harry was talking about, and he didn’t care. He had the stone, he had loyalty, and all he had to do to keep Harry’s loyalty is to uphold his promise to take him away from a house. The boy was likely under extreme wards, guarded by wizards and the likes. He must be bored or something, just an annoying little brat who wants freedom. He could understand the desire for freedom, but he never had the luxury of caring as a child as he was too busy being forced through exorcisms as a youngling and then told he would suffer in the Christian hell and purgatory for his ‘wrongness’. He had been called ‘wrong’ or ‘sinful’ for so many reasons; it was almost a compliment now though. Quirrell touched Harry’s face and pulled his burned hand back. That was important to know. He would need the boy for more, there was some sort of protection on him and he couldn’t have a weakness known by anybody especially not when he was reborn truly weak and vulnerable to attack. The man his soul latched onto picked up his turban and wrapped it over the face on the back of his head. He handed Harry a vial of potion and Harry drank it before he looked to the flames and Quirrell nodded, shooing him off with the wave of his hand. Harry was taken under the devil’s snare. Quirrell joined him a moment later and he left Harry below the vines with the promise to take him away from where ever he wanted to escape from. Harry collapsed to the ground once his professor had left through the hatch, promptly making his way back to his office and chambers.

    Harry’s shoulders shook with violent sobs. He was going to be free. Professor McGonagall had sent Harry’s request to the headmaster upon seeing how sickly he looked but the headmaster said he needed to stay with the Dursleys. He hadn’t even called Harry to him, rather he sent a letter through his head of house. He had been heartbroken when the headmaster told him that he needed to tone down his exaggerations and that lying was unacceptable, that lying would only serve to do harm in the long-run despite being beneficial in the short-term. Harry fell onto the stone floor and he heard Hermione’s footsteps approaching him and he heard Ron’s grumbles about nothing being fair before he purposely smashed his head against the stone in an attempt to knock himself out. It wouldn’t have worked if he was normal, it was impossible to knock oneself out, but he wasn’t normal, and he had lost any sort of care for his well being after years of being reminded how worthless he was.

    The End of Term Feast went well. Harry had been awarded points for nothing and so had Hermione and Ron. He didn’t understand what they had done but he knew that what had happened wasn’t fair to the Slytherins who had rightfully won the honour of the House Cup, or whatever. The House Cup didn’t seem very important to Harry, it was just a cup and nobody got anything special. Perhaps if he hadn’t had so many things on his mind, he would have been more excited. His housemates were all excited, cheering loudly due to their victory. They grabbed onto his shoulders and tried to lift him to his feet but he forcefully pushed the people away causing eyes to fall on him with dispassionate curiosity. Harry sat in silence that feast and he just wished he didn’t have to leave. He loved Hogwarts. It was beautiful and amazing and he was sure that, if nobody else, Hagrid cared about him. He didn’t have Hagrid at the Dursley’s to hurt Vernon if he hurt Harry or to keep Dudley from Harry Hunting with his pinched friends.

    There had never been a time more depressing for Harry then when he left the train and gathered his trunk and Hedwig. He made his way to the parents who were waiting for their children knowing that his uncle wouldn’t be there. He wouldn’t come close enough to other magic-folk, he wouldn’t want to _taint_ himself with their _freakiness_. Harry waited, though. He waited and watched as parents took their children and disappeared with them with the wave of their wands or they vanished in a burst of green flames in the tall fireplaces. He saw the few muggleborns leave through the muggle entrance. Harry was hoping that someone would be there, so he could avoid his family completely. He hadn’t told Voldemort where he lived. Would he be able to find him? He was the strongest wizard in the world he had to be able to find him! Harry, deciding that nobody was going to come for him after all, left and found his uncle waiting with a purple face. Vernon acted indifferent towards Harry until they were in the car and driving back to Little Whinging. Vernon exploded in rage, but luckily since they were still in semi-public it was only horrific verbal abuse. Harry could handle that better. At least after he was yelled at, he could continue on without pain in every movement after a little distancing from the emotions he felt. He had learned that he couldn’t cry, that it wasn’t worth it, and when he did it he only got ‘keep crying and I’ll give you something to cry about’ shouted at him. He would get hurt even worse if he let his tears escape him, so it was best to hide all of those feelings and put them in a place that wouldn’t bother him, a place that left him emotionally numb.

    A week into the summer hols and Harry had bloody, chapped fingers from washing them so much. He had to wash the dishes several times. Harry was sure that they all ate and used as much as they could just so he would have to wash more dishes. When he wasn’t washing and drying dishes he was out in the garden, getting dirty and he would have to wash himself off with the hose before he could go inside. If he managed to somehow track dirty into the house, he was responsible for cleaning it up. Failing to clean it up and he would face punishment. Punishments differed often but no matter what they were cruel. They starved him mostly. By two weeks into summer, Harry was already running on the fat he accumulated at Hogwarts, and still that wasn’t much. Harry would work outside and wish for Voldemort to find him. The man who killed his parents. He had no other choice, nobody else would help him. Perhaps he was exaggerating. If nobody else thought that what the Dursleys were doing was wrong, then he was probably just being a brat, wasn’t he? He was beat that night with a belt. Vernon had ripped his belt off as fast as his fat fingers could do so and he started with one smack across Harry’s cheek. Harry fell back, dropping tea on himself in the process. He was then raised up and told to stand with his hands on the wall. This was a common occurrence, but it had to be normal. The ladies at the muggle school didn’t think it was normal, but he didn’t have any other reference point. Nothing ever happened so this had to some form of accepted.

    It was almost Harry’s birthday. It was at midnight that night and Harry was locked in his cupboard. He had been moved to the upstairs bedroom, but he had misbehaved enough that they didn’t think he deserved to sleep in his bedroom. He opened his cupboard as far as he could open it without it creaking and alerting his family that he was awake. Vernon wasn’t asleep, he was on the couch watching the telly, but Dudley was upstairs with Petunia. He had a nightmare and Petunia cuddled him in blankets, fixed him hot chocolate and took him to the big bed to hold him and protect him from the bad dreams. Vernon would shout at the screen every now and then and through the hallway the lights flashed in a blinding and rapid fashion. Harry tried to focus on the clock but suddenly their was a banging on the door. It was similar to the night that Hagrid had arrived.

    Could this be Voldemort? Could this be his _saviour_? Vernon ignored the door and turned their television up with the remote. He didn’t like getting up to turn the volume up, there was no reason when he could do it from the comfort of the couch. Who wanted to do unnecessary work? The banging continued every few minutes until Vernon got up, throwing the remote down onto the couch, and opening the door. Vernon was immediately pushed onto his back as the door crashed into the wall. It was someone in a white mask and black robes. Their hood was up and Harry pulled his cupboard shut and pulled his knees up to his chest. He hoped that those people were going to help him because if not he was positive that he would be murdered. He heard Petunia’s screeching as she went down to investigate the commotion and he heard her body thumping against the stairs. There were footsteps above him and then there was the sound of the drawers in the kitchen opening. Someone was going through their things. Suddenly, Harry’s cupboard was opened and Harry looked at the masked man. This man had a black mask with silver details, it was much nicer that the other masks. He reached out and picked Harry up. Another man came down with Harry’s trunk shrunk and another had shrunk Hedwig’s cage before telling her where to go.

    The Boy-Who-Lived was too light. That was the first thought that Lucius had when he picked the boy up. He held him much like he had held Draco when he was a toddler. Potter was a big bigger than a toddler but not too much bigger. Harry’s thin arms wrapped around his neck.

    “Thank you for saving me,” Harry whispered into Lucius’ neck. Lucius reached up with one hand to rest it between the boy’s shoulder blades. This was quite unfortunate for the wizarding world and for Harry Potter, the boy who was hiding from danger in a boot cupboard. Lucius signalled for everyone to leave and they walked out of the house only to be met with the makeshift Order to greet them at the edge of the wards. Lucius raised his wand and had it ready to keep the boy in his arms safe at any expense. The four death eaters that flanked him distracted the Order and Lucius made sure to shield them as he walked out of the wards and apparated to the Riddle Manor. Lucius walked into the Manor, hoping that the other death eaters managed to get away and somewhere safe, although they should have been right behind him.

     The Riddle Manor was dirty: covered in dust and worn down. There was furniture strewn around the first floor that were covered with white sheets, soiled yellow with age. Harry looked around, wishing his eyes would adjust quicker but they were already usually out of focus due to his faulty and incorrect prescription but now he was also working against the darkness. His grip tightened around Lucius’ neck, and Lucius waved his wand over his face, the mask disappearing in black and silver smoke.

    “I assume you can walk, Mr. Potter,” Lucius sait once they were up the stairs and on the second level. Harry nodded and Lucius set him down on the ground. Harry reached out and took Lucius hand in his before Lucius led Harry down the hallway and to the door that had cracks radiating light. Lucius knocked on the door.

    “Enter,” a voice called, but Harry couldn’t recognize it. It wasn’t Professor Quirrell’s or the hoarse voice from the man on the back of his head. Lucius twisted the door handle and pushed the door open. He let Harry walk in first and Harry entered hesitantly. He had released Lucius’ hand after he felt the sting of rejection, but he wouldn’t have expected anything different from a stranger, especially a stranger who worked for his ‘enemy’. Harry looked around for the source of the voice and he saw a large snake on the floor. “Did you bring him, Luciussss?”

    “Yes, my Lord,” Lucius stepped into the room and closed the door behind him. The sound of the door clicking into place made Harry flinch. It was all so real now. He was really away from the Dursleys, away from his wicked family. He just hoped he didn’t trade one hell for another.  
    “Turn my chair for me,” the same voice responded and Harry was certain that the voice belonged to Voldemort. It’s the only thing that made sense. That mean that this ‘Lucius’ person was a death eater. That’s what the masks meant. Lucius stepped in front of Harry and towards the desk before turning the chair to face Harry, Lucius stood to the right side and slightly behind the chair that an ugly, demon-baby sat wrapped in bloody blankets. It didn’t even look to have any skin, it was pure muscle and he was covered in blood. It must have hurt to be so _exposed_. Harry didn’t look or feel disgusted though, just a little nervous. He shifted on his feet and looked down when he realized he had been staring. There was a soft laugh, but it wasn’t a happy laugh, it was a cruel laugh. “Take a seat, Mr. Potter,” the baby had large hands, hands as big as its bulbous head. He didn’t seem proportioned at all, in fact he was indescribably ugly and once again Harry looked away after staring. He quickly took a seat.

    “I’m sorry for staring, sir.”

    “You are a child, I cannot fault you for being childish, can I?” Harry didn’t answer, and not answering made him nervous because he wasn’t sure if he was supposed to answer or not. Luckily the man-thing started speaking again so Harry didn’t have to worry too much. “Tell me, why did you ask me to remove you from your home? You could have asked for anything and you just asked for a place to stay besides your home,” once again he started speaking before Harry could answer. “Lucius, where did you find him? What was going on? I assume there was heavy security.”

    “No, there was none of that, my Lord. He was hiding in a boot cupboard. I didn’t get a good look at it though. There was a man who started yelling at us, a muggle and there were two muggles upstairs. One ran downstairs with some sort of triangular, metal muggle contraption. She wielded it as a weapon but I don’t think that is what it is used for, it wasn’t very intimidating. I found Mr. Potter due to his magical signature, he was radiating energy… my Lord.”

    “Thank you Lucius, you may leave us now,” Voldemort waved his spidery fingers to the door and Lucius nodded and with a ‘My, Lord’ he left the room, shutting the door behind him. Harry turned to look at Voldemort again. “What were you doing in a boot cupboard, I’m sure there are several other more suitable places to hide, like a closet perhaps or under the bed?”

    “I was being punished, sir. My room is in the boot cupboard. They gave me a room upstairs at the start of summer but I misbehaved so they said I didn’t deserve that privilege. If I knew that they were from you, I wouldn’t have hidden, I didn’t know, all I saw were their masks and I was scared they were going to kill me. I was wrong, obviously. Thank you for sending them for me… for saving me…” Harry held his hands in his lap and his legs hung over the side of the chair. His legs were rather long but he just barely touched the floor with the top of his toes when sitting all the way back. Voldemort shifted into a very human position, his finger on his chin in thought while another arm curled up where his hand fisted the blanket that covered his muscles.

    “Did they punish you often?”

    “Only when I am bad… so, yes, often. I deserved it though. The headmaster just said I was exaggerating so it must be normal. Doesn’t everyone get punished like I do?” Harry could tell by the sour look he got from the man that he was wrong. “Oh… I’m sorry.”

    “Why are you apologizing? Apologies are for the weak. Don’t apologize, especially not for things that were out of your control,” The snake that had been resting on the floor nearly completely still moved and slithered up the chair and onto the tiny form of the Dark Lord. Harry watched this beautiful snake and how it moved, so delicate and yet it could strike and kill you. You’d be dead before you knew it. “I assume you didn’t see if someone got your things. Did you have anything of value where you were staying?”

    “My owl, Hedwig!” Harry sat up and leaned forward before retracting his hand. “I mean, my owl. Her name is Hedwig. She was my first birthday gift I ever got from somebody. Well I got a cake but I didn’t get a chance to eat any of it.”

    “I’m sure she is already on her way then. Owls are very smart creatures and can find wherever their masters are or any location they are given as long as it allows for owls to arrive. There aren’t many wards on this manor. Not yet anyway, so your owl is free to stay here and I will add her to the wards once I have my body back,” Voldemort reached out and stroked the snake’s large, arrow-shaped head. The snake curled into his hand.

    “ _I heard something about an owl,_ ” The snake said in a distinctly female voice. Harry panicked.

   “ _Please don’t eat my owl! She’s my only friend_ ,” Voldemort stopped moving and the snake turned to look at Harry, lazily flicking her tongue out to taste the air. Voldemort leaned forward. He had never heard another parseltongue, at least not anybody that wasn’t related to him (as he had heard his uncle speak before he framed him for his muggle family’s death).

    “You speak parseltongue… that is very interesting,” Voldemort hummed before he motioned to the snake on his desk. “This is Nagini. She has been with me since she was still an egg. She’s nearly as old as I am. She’s about fifty while I’m in my early sixties,” he looked over at Harry, who didn’t seem shocked by his age at all. That wasn’t the usual reaction to learning how old he was. “Do you know what parseltongue is?”

     “No sir. I spoke to a python in the zoo once. I also accidently removed the glass and my cousin fell into the cage. I thought that the snake knew English,” Voldemort chuckled and shook his head.

    “Snakes don’t have the ability to learn English, at least nothing more than a few simple worlds. Nagini has picked up a few words, ones that we say or she hears but most of them leave her mind quickly. She has had fifty years of listening to people talking about the owl post so she is aware of owls, at least the English word for owl,” Voldemort called for someone by the name of Severus and Harry felt like he should have expected it when his potions professor knocked and entered the room. Snape looked down at Harry and his bored expression didn’t change much, but Harry could see the anger in his eyes.

    “Are you ready for the ritual, my Lord?”

    “I am,” Voldemort looked around. “Mr. Potter, will you carry me?” Harry nodded, he would do anything the man asked of him. He saved him from his life and he hadn’t been anything but kind to him so far. He had even told him that snakes didn’t speak English. Did he know someone who could speak to snakes as well? How did he know that Nagini had been talking about an owl? Voldemort was a ‘parnell-tongue’ too! It had to be that. Harry carried Voldemort in his arms, picking him up with the blanket. Harry followed his dour professor down the stairs and into a large ballroom area. On the floor was a large cauldron. It was like a larger cauldron that they had used in potions class. “Place me in the cauldron,” Harry hesitantly lowered Voldemort into the cauldron. He was still going to give directions however, which made Harry nervous. “You will need to give me your blood. Do you do this willingly?”

    “Of course, I’ll do anything,” Harry said only to receive an odd look from Professor Snape.

    “Good. Severus, give him the blade and cut the runes into his skin. It may be painful, Mr. Potter, but you will be rewarded for your cooperation,” Voldemort thought for a moment about what he could give to Harry, about how he could teach him so much, how they could be very powerful -- undefeatable -- together. “Take off your shirt and allow Severus to mark you.”

    Harry took off his shirt but didn’t want to let anyone see some of the marks he had on him already. If he scarred up, then he would just have a good reminder of something rather than scars to remind him of all the things he would rather forget. Snape picked up the blade that rested on the altar to the side of the cauldron. He stood behind Harry’s little body and he wanted to hurt someone. There were fresh bruises, bruises a few days old and bruises a week old and those helped hide some of the scars from where he was hit too many times with the belt, or along the backs of his arms and his side and tummy where he had hot old poured on him and he has burn scars. Snape raised the blade to the nape of Harry’s neck.

    “I’m going to start now. This will probably sting,” Snape pressed the blade down and it popped through the skin before he cut a long rune down his back. Snape stopped cutting once he had carved five different runes, six runes in total. “ᚷᛗᛇ ᚨᛟᛗ” was written down Harry’s spine. By the end, his skin was puffy and red where little trails of blood leaked from his wounds. Snape grabbed the bottles of ink and whispered a quiet apology before rubbing the ink into the wounds. Harry was trying to hold back his desire to start crying; his fists clenched to a point that his fingers were hurting and his palms were numb. Severus wiped the remaining ink off of his spine with water and then cleaned the rest with magic before Snape walked around to look at Harry who had been trying to contain himself. Snape handed Harry a cloth and Harry ripped it from his hand and hid his face with it while he tried to calm down. He had been hit before, yelled at, abused and neglected, but he hadn’t felt anything hurt so bad before, at least nothing that he could have related it to in the moment.

    “What’s next?” Harry asked. Voldemort didn’t want to admit it, but he did feel bad taking from a child, especially from a child who had suffered as he had suffered in his youth.

    “You will let Severus cut your palm, you will let your blood drip into the cauldron while Severus adds the ingredients to the potion. He will add the extract from the Philosopher’s stone and he will continue the ritual. One of _our_ more unfortunate followers has been chosen for a flesh sacrifice. He has already been dissected and readied for the this ritual. You have nothing to fear, just give me your blood until Severus heals you. I won’t be able to speak until the ritual is complete, but I will see you with my actual eyes after I am restored,” Harry nodded and walked to the cauldron and looked down at Voldemort’s tiny, nude, bloody form. His knees were pulled up as if he was in the fetal position and he rested horizontally against the bottom of the cauldron, where water covered half of his face. Snape came towards Harry and leaned closer to whisper to him.

    “What has he promised you Mr. Potter? The headmaster will see to it that your needs are m--”

    “Just cut me again and let us finish this,” Harry leaned towards Snape. “I’m sure you don’t want Voldemort finding out that you just offered me safety with his enemies,” he clicked his tongue, trying to be intimidating. It was working. “What would he say about that? What would he do if he found out about it? He is the only one who cared enough about me to help me. I don’t see why you care though, you hate me,” Harry grabbed the hand with the blade in it and forced him to slice his hand open. He held his hand out over the cauldron and he could hear the sick sound of the drops of his blood hitting Voldemort’s muscle/skin stuff. Snape backed away and continued on with the ritual.

   Snape added many things to the cauldron, most of which Harry didn’t recognize. He pulled out large bowls full of human remains and added certain things, saying something in a language Harry didn’t know after every plop of the chunk of flesh falling into the cauldron filled with blood, water and plant and animal parts. Snape continued and healed Harry’s hand. He gently, so uncharacteristically, led Harry away from the cauldron before he added drops of shimmering red liquid and finished the ritual. “...skóp nú vilja hannr ey…” (A/N: I don’t speak Old Icelandic or read it, I researched it a little bit, but I didn’t understand it very well. So please forgive any mistakes, I’m trying.) Snape’s voice grew quiet and he took a few steps away from the cauldron while Harry took a few forward. By this point the cauldron was surrounded by mist that bubbled over the lip of the cauldron and dripped onto the group, rolling after everyone like a flurry of vicious snakes. Slowly, Voldemort rose up out of the cauldron, his body unfolding. He was pale, too pale to be human, but he was gaining colour and facial features. His hands reached out, he looked as if he was being crucified in his position. His fingers curled, popping and cracking loudly in the process.

    “Dress me,” Voldemort said. Not the little baby-thing, but Voldemort, the Dark Lord, the greatest wizard in the world. Severus pulled out a robe and draped it over his Lord’s shoulders. Voldemort stepped out of the cauldron and onto steps that led down to the ground. He relished upon feeling the icy floor beneath his feet, icy as his body was warm as if he was exiting a womb fully grown and perfect as he continued to develop into a perfect man. Harry watched, in near shock, as Voldemort slipped his arms through his sleeves and plucked the wand from Snape’s hands as he presented it much like one who present a sword. Voldemort flicked his wand and the liquid from within the cauldron disappeared and the pewter cauldron shrunk back into a manageable size. “Thank you Severus, Mr. Potter,” the Dark Lord approached Harry, who beamed up at the older man with appreciation. “For your cooperation and work. You are dismissed Severus,” Professor Snape left the room with a polite nod and a whispered ‘my Lord’. Snape’s robes billowed behind him as he stalked out of the ballroom and outside of the wards to leave and inform the headmaster of the news. It was all quite troubling.

    Harry ran forward and hesitantly wrapped his arms around the Dark Lord. “Thank you,” he whispered again. “Thank you so much,” Voldemort reached down to pet Harry’s head before he picked the boy up and held him with one arm in a similar way as one would carry a baby. Voldemort was much taller than a normal human man, in fact he was intimidatingly inhuman but he was still the most handsome person that Harry had ever seen, the nicest person, a person that  Harry felt indebted to.

    “It is nothing, pet. If your things are not returned by sunrise we will assume that your things are lost and we will get you new things. It makes sense to buy you new things for your new life,” Voldemort carried Harry across the room and out into the  hallway. They went up the stairs and the Dark Lord set Harry down on the ground outside a locked door. With a flick of his wrist and a whispered spell, the door clicked as it unlocked. Voldemort pushed the door open and Harry saw a luxurious bedroom, it was plush with soft blankets, thick drapes over large windows, there were full bookshelves against the wall with the door and off to the side there was a door that led into a large bathroom. Harry looked up at the spidery man behind him. “This is your new room. My room is down the hall,” he pointed a long finger down the hallway. “There, that is where you can find me if you need me. Let me see your back.”

    Harry turned around to let the Dark Lord see the tattoos down his spine. Harry shivered when he felt fingers run over the sore skin.

    “Perfect,” he purred. “Go and rest now, Mr. Potter. We will speak more tomorrow.”

    “You can call me Harry, sir,” Harry looked at the bed. It was covered in soft looking blankets and it seemed so soft. Voldemort nodded.

    “Alright Harry. Goodnight,” the Dark Lord turned on his heel and went to his own room, shutting the door behind him. Harry closed the door and looked at the bed. He took off his oversized pants and folded them before resting them against the foot of the bed. Harry removed  his glasses and put them on the dark, wooden bedside table before struggling to get on top of the bed. The bed was high off the ground. He could have fit under the bed twice, stacked on top of himself, and been fine. The covered were just as soft as they had appeared. He pushed the comforter and top sheet back before slipping between the folds of fabric. The sheets were cool against his grimy skin, the bed was so clean and comforting. Harry pulled the comforter up over his shoulders and before he had a chance to examine the bed any further, he was peacefully asleep.

    In the morning, Harry was left alone mostly but he had taken advantage of the shower. He hoped that by showering he hadn’t broken any rules and he would have bathed in cold water but the water was perfect from the very beginning, there wasn’t a dial to change the temperature even so he knew it must have been magic. By lunch he was soaking in the bathtub after showering since he didn’t want to instantly get the bath water dirty. No, he wanted to soak in the tub and he didn’t have to add anything in the jacuzzi sized bath tub but there were sweetly smelling bubbles that went up to his chin. A wrinkly, toddler sized creature with humongous eyes. This creature shook with anxious tremors, its large hands running over each other nervously. Harry turned and jumped, nearly having a heart attack.

    “Hello,” Harry started and the creature looked at him. “Um, who are you?”

    “I is Nippy. Nippy be bringing Master Harry Potter clothes. Nippy needs to tell Master Harry Potter that Master Voldemort be wanting him at the table,” Nippy disappeared with a pop and then came back, setting clothes down on the top of the toilet seat. “Nippy be waiting to show Master Harry Potter to the table once Master be covered with clothes.”

    “Alright,” Harry reached out and grabbed the same towel he used after the shower and he stood up, awkwardly covering himself with the towel and slipping onto the floor, nearly crashing face-first into the tiles but Nippy caught him and broke his landing. “I’m so sorry Nippy. Are you OK?”

    “Nippy be fine Master Harry Potter, sir,” Nippy stood up and helped Harry to his feet before staring up at Harry who wasn’t too much taller than her. Harry looked at the clothes and then down at himself.

    “Can you turn around, please?”

    “Nippy apologizes for Nippy’s silliness. Nippy forgets that Masters be uncomfortable showing their skins,” Nippy turned around and Harry wiped the rest of the bubbles off of himself before he looked at the clothes. There were a pair of boxers that had to of been from his trunk and a ratty jumper that had been mended the best he could do when he was back at the Dursleys. Harry didn’t see any pants, so he put the jumper on. It was larger than he remembered and it went halfway down his thighs. “Is Master Harry Potter ready to be leaving?”

    “Are there any trousers for me to wear?”

    “Master Voldemort gave Nippy instructions to gather suitable clothes for Master Harry Potter. Master Harry Potter didn’t have suitable trousers. Does Master Harry Potter be wanting his trousers?” Nippy took a step forward, her large, ill-proportioned feet slapping against the wet floor.

    “Er, no, I guess this is fine. Okay, I’m ready to go,” Harry grabbed his glasses off the sink and put them on. Nippy led him out of the bedroom he had stayed the night and half the day in and down the stairs. They turned into a long hallway and walked through a large living area with doors branching off to several different doors with large rooms hidden behind them, one of which was a large library. Nippy turned to the white doors and pushed one open, holding it open for Harry to walk into the room. At the head of a long, deep toned table, Voldemort sat with the man from the previous night, Lucius, a woman, Narcissa, and Draco Malfoy. Harry reached down and pulled his jumper down as far as it could cover him. Nippy reached out and took Harry’s hand, leading him to the seat on the left side of Voldemort. Harry sat down and looked down at his lap. He could feel the glare from Draco boring into his body like disgusting, flesh eating maggots burrowing into his skin. Harry looked up just a little and saw a full plate of food that hadn’t been then a second ago.  
    “Eat your lunch. I would have invited you down for breakfast but when I sent Nippy to your room, you were still asleep and I didn’t want to wake you,” Voldemort said quietly, almost caringly. Lucius watched Harry as he lifted a regular and quite muggle looking grilled-cheese sandwich. The only difference from what he would make for the Dursleys was that there were caramelized onions and some weird sauce that was sweet and a little spicy mixed in with the cheese and then he had a bowl of shell-shaped noodles with white sauce and little tomatoes. It was also covered in melted cheese of some sort and Harry took bites of both things experimentally before setting them down. He looked at the goblet placed in front of his place and he picked it up to smell what it was. It smelled fine, if not a little bit like apples. He took a sip of the apple juice and he went back to eating. He looked up eventually to see that the Malfoys were incredibly interested in the way he ate, well Narcissa and Lucius. Draco seemed annoyed since the attention wasn’t on him or his father. Even the Dark Lord was focused on Harry.

    “This is really good, thank you,” Harry said finally, shocking everyone who was focused on him out of their trance. Lucius turned back to the Dark Lord.

    “So, you are asking us to take Mr. Potter to France to purchase suitable clothing and other _necessities_?” Lucius asked, the hand on his cane, tapping against the silver snake head absently while the other hand resting on the table. Narcissa continued to watch Harry with a clear curiosity. She didn’t know much about the Boy-Who-Lived besides he wasn’t on good terms with her little Dragon and as of last night that Lucius had aided in his kidnapping, if it could be called that. Voldemort motioned broadly with his hand towards Harry who was trying to finish it all despite the ache in his stomach from eating too much already. Draco glared at Harry. What did he have that he didn’t? He should have been the one to receive the affection of the Dark Lord. His father was his most loyal servant and the best out of them as well, but he wasn’t the one getting all the attention and it was extinguishing his ego.

    “Yes, that is correct. I will pay for anything he wants or needs. If he is agreeable he will become a permanent fixture here. Of course he cannot return to Hogwarts for his second year, so he will also be needing to speak with somebody his own age and out of all my followers I trust that Draco will be able to keep the secrets of Mr. Potter and be there to introduce him when he is allowed back to the school, when the time is right. I will be training him and I’m sure he will need some sort of common interaction to keep him from growing angry or from keeping everything too internalized. He needs someone who can understand him and I quite frankly, do not understand the workings of a child, not even when I was a child.”

    “Draco would be honoured to befriend Harry, or mend whatever they already have, my Lord. When will you want us to take Harry?” Narcissa said this, cutting off the glare from Draco as she gripped his shoulder tightly, her long nails poking into his collarbone warningly.

    “Today would be preferable. Once he has what he needs, he will begin training with me,” Voldemort turned to Harry, who had stopped eating and stared up at Voldemort with his jaw unhinged. Voldemort raised an eyebrow. “Don’t act so surprised, and close your mouth,” Harry’s mouth snapped shut. He turned to Lucius and he couldn’t read him, Harry could see the frustration on Draco’s face, he wasn’t hiding it and if he was then he wasn’t doing a good job. Just like her husband, at least Harry was sure that she was Draco’s mother, Narcissa wore a face of indifference yet she was still warm and inviting like a mother should be.

    “When you’re done with your meal, Mr. Potter, we can get you some suitable robes and we will take you shopping. I’m sure Draco has something that will fit you for the day,” Narcissa offered a smile and Harry wiped his face with the back of his hand, feeling something drying on his face. It was a trail of the sauce and cheese that had dried on the corner of his mouth. No wonder they had been staring at him, he thought, they were probably thinking about how disgusting I am.

    “You can call me Harry, Mrs. Malfoy.”

    “You may call me Narcissa then, Harry,” she released Draco’s shoulder. Draco looked as if he would explode with some unpleasant emotions. “Are you finished?”

    “I am, Mrs. M-- Narcissa… can I still call you Mrs. Malfoy, I don’t want to offend you or anything and stuff,” Harry watched as Nippy took the dishes away before looking back to Narcissa.

    “Narcissa or Mrs. Malfoy are both appropriate, you may use either one. Now, if you’re finished we can take you to our manor to grab some robes and then we'll go shopping, hmm?” She stood up and nodded respectfully towards the Dark Lord. “My Lord.”

    Lucius did a similar thing and Draco followed his parents’ actions before the Malfoys walked to the end of the table. Narcissa held her hand out for Harry and Harry ran to her and took her hand. She was warm and her hands were really soft. Was this what a mother felt like? Were they all so nice? The Malfoys helped Harry in the floo and they arrived back at Malfoy Manor. Harry was attacked by a crazy ‘house elf’ (which he figured out was what Nippy was) that Mr. Malfoy called ‘Dobby’. Harry was led up the stairs and into Draco’s closet by Mrs. Malfoy. She pulled a dark blue robe off the rack and held it up to Harry. She summoned a house elf with a damp rag and she washed Harry’s hands to remove lunch’s oil from his fingers and then she wiped his face before giving the cloth back to one of the house elves to take away. She then helped Harry out of the jumper. She slid the robe on over his head and then turned him around so she could button the backup as it was meant for children and the buttons were meant to be buttoned by their parents or house elves. She wasn’t about to trust a house elf after Dobby’s crazy display and especially not with someone as important as Harry. He had all but been declared the Dark Lord’s apprentice, and that meant that he was above all the death eaters, above her. She could only try to make a good impression so he would be kind to her in the future.

    Narcissa saw the red, raised, irritated skin around the tattoos he had on his spine. She ran her fingers down his back and Harry shivered. There was a cooling feeling, like when someone touched your toes with ice, and also something else that just made Harry shiver. He didn’t know why, but he did. Narcissa didn’t say anything and she silently buttoned up the robe. She grabbed her own brush and brushed Harry’s crazy waves before making him brush his teeth. She grabbed some shoes that were Draco’s but no longer fit him and helped Harry into them. Harry was ready to go and they both walked down the stairs in time to hear Draco and Lucius arguing.

    “...why does _he_ have to go out with _us_? He was raised by muggles. He’s an invalid! He shouldn’t be around people such as us,” Draco cried out. He waved his hands around furiously and Lucius just growled at him to stop his bratty behaviour.

    “That is no way to treat or speak about a guest,” Lucius said finally. “You will cease your childish behaviour and realize that we serve the Dark Lord and he has trusted us with the task of helping Mr. Potter. We should truly be honoured that he entrusted someone so important to us. You will behave and if I have to take privileges away, I will. Now, when they come down those stairs you will smile and try to fix whatever problem you have with Mr. Potter. He is as good as part of this family, do you understand?”

    Draco nodded, “I’m sorry father.”

    “You should be,” Harry and Narcissa made their way into the floo room and Harry looked as uncomfortable as Narcissa felt. Lucius hadn’t raised his voice at all but that didn’t stop her husband and son’s voices from being heard by them as they made their way into the floo room. “Are you ready?” Harry nodded and Lucius smiled at him. Something that only made Draco more jealous. His father rarely smiled at him and he had to do something very important to get a smile, to get any display of affection and now Harry bloody Potter was getting smiles from his father, getting pampered by his mother and he was getting lectures on proper conduct. Draco decided that he would just ignore Harry. There was no problem if neither of them spoke to each other, nothing nasty would be said if they both stayed silent.

     The family and Harry made their way into the French Diagon Alley. This was far enough away that none of the members of Dumbledore’s little Order would come and try to take Harry back. Narcissa led the way and Lucius just looked into the windows of the shops as they passed by. Draco stayed beside his father and Harry held onto Mrs. Malfoy’s hand. His palm was getting sweaty and he felt bad and let go of Narcissa’s hand, scared that she wouldn’t want to hold his hand again if he sweat on her. She let him do as he wanted and finally turned into a shop. Lucius held the door open for them and Harry looked around the shop. It was quaint with colourful clothes on racks all around. There was a hallway and then a room through the hallway. A woman walked to the counter and looked up to see Narcissa.

    “Ah, Lady Malfoy!” the woman called, throwing her arms open and rushing towards Narcissa. She smiled and kissed Narcissa’s cheek. “What do we owe the pleasure?”

    “We need an entire wardrobe for this one,” she guided Harry towards the woman. The woman looked down at Harry and beamed at him.

    “How nice it is to meet you, Mister. I’m Camille and I will be measuring you for your clothes today. If you would please follow me,” she took Harry’s hand and Harry turned to look up at Narcissa who motioned for him to follow her.

    “We will look at fabrics and cuts for your clothes, Harry. We will show them to you and you may approve or disapprove of them after you’ve finished getting measured,” Narcissa added helpfully. Harry nodded and followed Camille down the hallway and into a large room covered in mirrors. There were three doors off to the side and a dial near some of the mirrors. Camille led him up onto the raised platform of the dial and pulled out a tape measurer. She dropped it and it started moving on its own. Camille pulled out parchment and started to write down all the measurements that the tape was measuring. They continued measuring for about twenty minutes before Camille took the tape measurer and manually measured Harry. She wrapped the measurer around his neck, but before she gave him a warning, she did the same when she measured his upper thigh and another when she measured his chest. She wrote down all the sizes and then dropped the tape again which measured his feet before it flew into her hand. She tucked the little device into her pocket and then helped him off of the dial. She called the Malfoys into the back room and Lucius had become the one to hold everything Narcissa had picked out. It was clear that this was common in the Malfoy household but it was also clear that Lucius didn’t like becoming a ‘pack mule’ in the process. Lucius dumped, as nicely as possible, the clothes into a pile on a chair and Narcissa and Camille started hanging things up.

    The clothes resized themselves to the common measurements around Harry’s size and he was told to try on the different cuts of robes before they started to have him try on trousers and shirts. He felt various different fabrics as well and decided that he liked the way velvet felt and upon Lucius’ suggestion also got some things made from dragonhide. He had things made with cotton and a few jumpers made of cashmere and he got a few shirts in silk too just because Draco mumbled about it being what most of his shirts were made out of it. Harry left with his order placed with Camille and the promise to send the clothes to the Malfoy Manor with a house elf. Harry was going to say something about how he didn’t live there but Narcissa stopped him and said that it was fine. Lucius paid with Voldemort’s key, out of the Slytherin vault and they left. Harry held onto Narcissa’s hand and she took them to a shop for wands. One of the things that the Dark Lord had requested was a new wand for Harry. He couldn’t have such a recognizable wand, Harry Potter’s wand.

    They entered the dark division of the Alley, sort of like Knockturn but none of it was illegal in France. They entered an obscure wand maker’s shop, not another branch of Ollivander’s wands. It was run by a family of witches and wizards, the Lafreniere family. Originating in France they apparently have shops around the world, although they have more shops in the Northern Hemisphere as they have a harder time finding reasonably priced woods and cores in the Southern Hemisphere due to some being more uncommon or inaccessible. Harry walked inside the shop and it wasn’t anything like Ollivander’s shop. There were no stacks of boxes with wands, in fact everything looked very clean. Behind the counter was a man and woman. They were arguing and both had their wands raised at each other. The wands were sparking and sending out energies. At the sound of the bell chiming at the Malfoy family’s entrance, the siblings stopped fighting and turned to Harry who they knew was the one in need of a wand.

    “Hello,” the woman greeted pleasantly before pointing her wand as Harry. Lucius was in front of Harry with his own wand drawn and pointed at her in a second. The boy was too precious and valuable to let him get hurt (plus Lucius didn’t particularly feel like getting tortured for his incompetence). She clicked her tongue and put her wand down before crossing her arms. “I wasn’t going to hurt the boy, I was simply testing something. You see, we’ve just gotten a shipment of rare wand cores and we’re testing them out. Stand aside monsieur, we won’t hurt the boy,” Lucius’ eyes narrowed but he stepped aside. The woman leaned over the counter and pulled out her own pair of glasses except they had several other lenses flipped up from the main frames. She clicked them down until they were all down and she examined the boy. She let out a hum.

    “Try this one, little one,” the man said handing a wand to Harry from over the counter. Harry did as he learned in first year and gave a swish and flick and the man fell down. He jumped back to his feet. “No, no, that is definitely not suitable,” he traded out the wand. “Sissy, mark off lethifold cloak, that was definitely that component, the wood is probably just a bad combination overall. I told you that apple wood was no good,” the siblings got into an argument as Harry gave a flick and a box went flying off the shelf and right at Harry. He ducked and it hit Lucius in the stomach.

    “I’m so sorry, Mr. Malfoy,” Harry started but Lucius put his hand up and set the box back on the counter.

    “That’s quite alright.”

    Once again the sales people started bickering and Harry tried quite a few wands. He was scared it was going to be a repeat of his time at Ollivanders. None of the two behind the counter ever commented to Harry, but rather they took up conversation between themselves. They reminded Harry a lot of the Weasley twins. The girl handed Harry a wand and Harry swished it and nothing happened but he liked it, he wanted this wand. He gave it another flick and then he tried a spell and the counter started to shake before it lifted off the ground, ripping out of the floor. Harry gasped and released the spell. He apologized again, he walked forward and put the wand back on the counter and the boy pushed it back towards him.

    “Why are you giving it back? This one is definitely for you,” he said and his sister agreed by nodding her head.

    “But I ruined your shop, doesn’t that mean it doesn’t suit me?”

    “Not entirely. You casted what? A basic charm and managed to rip up our shop. I think it helps you focus your magical core quite well. That’s interesting though because this is one of our uncommon wands. Not that it’s really too big of a deal, but it’s definitely our only wand made from Elder wood. It’s not particularly common and let me see,” the girl grabbed the box it came from and opened it, looking at the words written on the inside cover. “Sphinx hair. ‘Reasonably springy’ if you want the full lore to your wand. Eleven inches. Do you not like it?”

    Harry held the wand to his chest as if they would try to take it. “No, I love it,” he glared up at them and they both smiled a smile that looked very similar to each other’s before they handed him the box. The girl started to put the boxes away and then cast a repairing charm on their counter as if someone accidentally ripping the counter out of the foundation was a common occurrence.

    “How much?” Lucius finally asked as the man and Harry stared at each other for a solid minute or so.  
    “You have galleons?” The man asked and Lucius raised an eyebrow that easily conveyed his answer of ‘obviously’. “Then fifteen galleons. We’re quality wand makers and our materials are far superior to Mr. Ollivander and much more precious as well,” Lucius set the money on the counter and Narcissa took Harry’s hand. Harry looked over his shoulder back at the man and his sister as the Malfoys led him out of their shop. Narcissa dusted herself off as if she somehow was dirtied by their presence and sighed. Harry felt around his robe and found a pocket for his wand. It seemed to be a special pocket made specifically for his wand. Lucius noticed and mentally slapped himself, although he would never admit it.

    “Mr. Potter needs a wand holster,” Lucius said suddenly and his voice startled Harry. Narcissa squeezed Harry’s hand gently and continued walking beside him.

    “Where can we get one of those?” Since nobody was talking, Harry felt he had to ask, despite feeling like an idiot after asking such a blasé question, as he felt all of his questions sounded to people as knowledgeable as the Malfoys… well except for Draco, but Draco never struck Harry as being very smart even though he did get the second best grades of the first year class.

    “We can get one here, or we can get a _good_ holster from Knockturn. Draco and I will get you a holster before the weekend since you can’t leave your new home until Harry Potter dies,” Harry stopped walking and Narcissa stopped with him. Lucius sighed. “Let me rephrase. You can’t be the person you’ve always been anymore, you aren’t Harry Potter the Saviour of the wizarding world nor are you the Boy-Who-Lived, you are now the boy witch extreme power and the boy who will be granted knowledge that others will only ever wish for,” Lucius placed a hand on Harry’s shoulder and Harry leaned back against Lucius just enough to relax but not enough to seem like he was dependent on the older Malfoy.

    “Oh, that makes sense, I suppose,” Harry stepped forward and they all started walking again, heading towards the floo fireplaces. Draco scoffed but when he father looked down at him he just glared down at the ground. None of this was fair and he couldn’t even try to fix whatever rivalry he had with Potter anymore because he had taken his family now too. How could he forgive a family-thief? They went back to Malfoy Manor and then Lucius took Harry back to Riddle Manor where the Dark Lord was upstairs shouting at someone. Harry had started his ascension up the stairs when someone dropped on the ground and started screaming. He could picture whoever was screaming writhing on the floor in pain. Harry hadn’t heard of that curse before, but from the shrieking he was sure that the Dark Lord had just put someone through immense pain.

    Lucius knocked on the door.

   “Enter,” the Dark Lord called and Lucius opened the door. Harry walked in, hoping to see the person still in pain. He did see someone on the floor. He didn’t know who he was, but he was on the floor, on his back. His face was red and his nose was bleeding. It looked like all the veins in his face had popped with how red his face was, even his eyes were red as they filled with blood from all the burst capillaries. “Mr. Potter,” he started, taking a seat at his desk. “Did you have fun?”

    “I did. I didn’t know anything about robes so Mrs. Malfoy helped me. She is very nice. She said I could have this robe too, but she also said I might want to throw it away since it isn’t actually my size, or at least not as correctly sized as my new clothes. And Mr. Malfoy paid for my wand himself… I can pay you back for that. Both of you, I have money in my vault. It’s not fair that you are buying me things, I’m already staying here,” Harry frowned thinking about how he had to earn his keep at the Dursley's. It didn’t make much sense though since the Dark Lord had house elves to do everything, so what else did he have to offer? He didn’t know anything that could be of use to anyone and he certainly didn’t have as much money as the Malfoys.

    “You don’t have to pay us back,” Voldemort motioned for both of his guests to sit while the man on the floor didn’t dare to sit up without express permission. Lucius picked Harry up and set him down on the chair so he didn’t step on the man on the floor before he stepped over him and sat down, crossing his legs and resting his head in his hand. “When you have suitable clothes, and I’m sure Lucius suggestive something in dragonhide -- we will discuss the properties of dragonhide at a later date so you understand the importance of it -- I will begin training you to be the most powerful child in the world. You did express a desire for knowledge, to be taught and raised into greatness, did you not?”

    “I did, sir.”

    “Great,” his eyes narrowed on Lucius. “Speaking of Lucius, how was Draco?” Harry frowned but tried to hide it by looking to the wall on his side. This cause Voldemort to frown which in turn had Lucius in a position where he could beg for forgiveness on his son’s behalf or he could somehow try to lie his way out of the situation. He was positive that lying would be a sure-fire way to get cursed and he didn’t want to end up like the poor fellow on the floor.

    “He was fine,” Harry sighed and turned to look at the Dark Lord. “He still doesn’t like me, but he didn’t say anything or do anything to me. He actually ignored me most of the time, so no harm done… sir.”

    “I see,” Voldemort closed his eyes and looked down at the man who was still catching his breath on the floor. “You may go, Avery. Get up and _leave_ my presence, I am _very_ _disappointed_ in you.” The man on the floor got to his feet, bowed and let with a silent offer of ‘my Lord,’ as all the Dark Lord’s minions did apparently, at least that was Harry’s observation so far. “You may also go Lucius. You did well today.”

    “Yes my Lord,” Lucius bowed and left the room, closing the door behind him. Harry pulled his feet up on the chair and crossed them. He pulled his new wand out of his pocket and twisted it in his fingers.

    “I’m glad you enjoyed yourself, _Harry_ ,” Harry perked up at hearing him use his name. He had asked him to use it but he had assumed that the Dark Lord just hadn’t remembered or he didn’t hear him, but he said his name. “I will only use your name in private. At least until we change your name. We will go to Gringotts for all of that business later. In private you may call me Tom, but elsewhere you must address me as the Dark Lord or Lord Voldemort, understand?”

    “Yes, sir,” Harry smiled, knowing he could do something that nobody else was allowed to do. At least he assumed nobody else was allowed to call Tom his actual name since he wasn’t allowed to use it in public. He wondered if anybody else even knew his real name. “Earlier you said I wouldn’t be going back to Hogwarts and you keep mentioning training. You are going to teach me then?”

    “I plan on teaching you, yes. Now, it is getting late. I will have pyjamas sent to your room. You did buy sleepwear, correct?”

    “I bought some of everything… was I supposed to? I wasn’t sure what I needed.”

    “Yes, you were allowed to buy anything you wanted or felt you needed along with a wardrobe. Now, go enjoy a bath or something and read, if there is nothing you wish to read we can get you a listing of books available for purchase so you can find something you would like to read,” Harry nodded and left at the obvious dismissal. He went to his room and put his wand on the sink along with his glasses before he pulled the robe off over his head. He did this after her fumbled and tried to unbutton the back for a good five or six minutes. He kicked off his shoes and toed off his socks before he filled the bath with warm water and it got all bubbly. He stepped in and enjoyed the sweet smell of flowers? No, it wasn’t flowers. It was something else. Whatever it was, it smelled really nice and he would be asking for the same scent of soap always.

 

    It had been a week since Harry Potter had gone missing. The Dursleys had moved despite his warnings not to, and his members had been wounded in the scuffle with the death eaters. Not only did he have to worry about all of that, but he was fined as payment for the obliviators that were called in to wipe the memories of all the muggles that saw the fight. He sat at his desk. It had been a week since Severus had gone to him. He noticed the potions master holding or scratching at his left arm, which only made him curious. He had asked for an audience with Severus for that night. Perhaps he could get some information from him. What use was a spy if he didn’t know anything useful?

    Severus entered the office after giving the ridiculous, sugary password to the gargoyle. He stalked up the steps and sat down in a chair across from the headmaster’s desk. Albus offered a lemon drop and Severus waved them away. He had never accepted a lemon drop from the man, not even in his youth did he accept the offer, yet the man always seemed to offer. It was as if he expected the dismissal. Was it some foolish reminder of being humble, by being rejected, by always offering to be the helper while not wanting anything in return? It was all idiotic, but then perhaps Severus was just in a bad mood. He couldn’t tell if he was in a foul mood or if he was feeling ashamed of himself for resurrecting his Lord and sending his charge, Harry, straight into death. He had to be dead at that point, Severus couldn’t imagine the boy still being alive unless he was still being tortured. His blood was used, those runes… those runes were… Severus didn’t know they well enough to know exactly what they meant but he knew that there was something about life and death. It must have meant that Harry would die so that the Dark Lord could live again. It’s the only logical explanation.

    “Mr. Potter is still missing,” Dumbledore started, popping a yellow candy into his mouth. He smacked his lips as he tasted it and then he folded his hands on his desk. He leaned forward and Severus did the same, not because he wanted to but because his body reacted by leaning closer in case sensitive information was being passed. “Do you think he has been murdered?”

    “I’m positive that he has been murdered,” Severus sighs. If only he could tell the headmaster, if he had something, a use, a reason to keep him from Azkaban but if he gave up this information then surely he was burying himself. He would be wanted by the Aurors and Order as well as the Dark Lord and his death eaters. The headmaster nodded and a large box rose from the floor and set itself down in front of Severus.

    “These are the reports of the boy, all of the information I’ve gathered on him. I think you would understand him much more than I can… in fact, if I had only thought it was as bad as he had said it was,” he tried to sound as if he cared, but he didn’t. He needed the boy as a weapon, he couldn’t possibly humanize him if he wanted to stay objective about him. Harry Potter was never a human, he was always a weapon. He was born to defeat Voldemort and he was in the process of being raised to use his power for good, but now he was gone, there was nothing more they could do besides find someone to take his place. There had to be someone, and Dumbledore would, never stooping low because he did not ‘stoop’, not be above taking a child from a family in order to raise him into a weapon. It would be _for the greater good_. Who could argue with that? The life of many outweighed the life of one. Except him, his life was very important, he was the great defeater of the last Dark Lord. He was always going to be much more important, he was the greatest wizard of the current times.

    Severus took the box and looked through the parchments. Just scanning what they read, written on white copy paper with a ballpoint pen, he could tell that Potter had a less than stellar childhood. He almost felt bad for his mistreatment of him during his class, but now he understood why he had been so desperate for the Dark Lord to help him, why he kept thanking him, why he was so willing to sacrifice himself. Dumbledore didn’t make a weapon, he broke a child. This was his fault. Severus didn’t say anything. He picked up the box, ready to read and see what Harry had endured. He felt between terrible for treating him bad and thinking his life was perfect and he was also feeling guilty for not noticing and for living so much in his head that he didn’t see any problems. He was just as responsible. He was a professor. It was his duty to protect the children that walked into this school and he should have paid more attention to Harry Potter, even if he hated his father, he had loved his mother and now he had failed him. He was expecting his life to be forfeit quite soon as is to be expected when one makes an unbreakable vow to protect someone only to let them fall to harm to the other person you swore loyalty to. He had three masters and he hated all of them.

    Sitting back as Severus left, Dumbledore cooed at Fawkes who trilled and picked at his feathers under his wings. How could he ever be capable of doing true harm. He was good, he was right in his cruelty because if he was wrong, if he was ever corrupt then Fawkes wouldn’t stay with him. He had it on good conscious that he was in the ‘right’ and that validated his actions. At least that’s what he told himself to numb himself from the conscious that told him he was very wrong and very blameable for terrible things and even for creating the Dark Lord which brought all of these other problems alive. It was all his fault, but he would never let himself consciously think of it that way. He was innocence, he was justice, love, and goodness. He could do no wrong as a God could never do wrong. He was the modern Merlin and he planned on being just as memorable.


	2. Piety

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I (EvenEcho) plan on defining a word (or two in some cases) for every chapter. Would anybody like to see the origin or more information of the word as well? I mean, I love words so I've been having fun writing out the chapters and adding the definitions to the page (I don't copy and paste because that takes out all the learning, I type and flip between tabs in an effort to memorize the definitions), so would anybody even /want/ to see a little information blurb or should I add it to the chapter notes?  
> Let us know which one you would like to see and we will try to see that it happens. 
> 
> Also, there are sex scenes in this chapter but they are not marked. If you don't want to read any sex scenes then this probably isn't the fanfiction for you. Sorry.

Piety

[ **pahy** -i-tee]

_Noun._

  1. The quality of being religious or reverent
  2. A belief or point of view that is accepted with unthinking conventional reverence; devotion



***

    “Don’t send me back,” Hydrus held onto the front of Tom’s robes. “I’ll be of more use to you outside of the school, I promise,” he stood up on his toes and pressed kisses against Tom’s face and neck. “Don’t send me back.”

    “You are going back, that’s final. Nothing you can do will convince me otherwise,” Voldemort gripped Hydrus’ jaw and forced him to look up at him. He glared down at the younger man and Hydrus pulled away before turning around and crossing his arms that was reminiscent of a spoiled child, not the youngest Dark Lord in history. Hydrus made a little sound to signal his displeasure and then he felt arms wrap around him. Tom was still inhumanly tall, but he looked human most of the time. Sometimes when he morphed his features to scare his followers, he could take up a snake-like appearance but there was some sick, twisted part of Hydrus that liked _that_ look just as much as his handsome human self. “Don’t pout, it doesn’t suit you,” and thin lips connected with his neck.

    “Is this how you intend to apologize for making me go back and deal with,” he thought for a moment, shifting his head to the side to let the Darkest Dark Lord kiss and suck bruises onto his neck. “ _Insufferable brats_. I don’t want to be stuck in a fifty foot radius of little Mister Malfoy either. Just because I rule the new generation doesn’t mean that I have to like them,” Hydrus pressed his back against Tom and keened, his sharp, enthusiastic noise only reminding Voldemort that Hydrus was still a young, hormonal boy. That was what turned him off and he pulled back. Hydrus now had another reason to frustrated with his partner in crime. “But speaking of the Malfoys, maybe Lucius will let me have fun. He doesn’t mind that I’m young and beautiful like you do,” Hydrus’ words were more acidic than he intended but it didn’t really wound Tom. Tom didn’t have normal emotions, in fact his emotions were so different that he didn’t feel physical stressors the same either. Hydrus was sure it was because of all the scarring both mental and physical that riddled Tom Riddle’s body, at least when he looked like Tom Riddle and not his snake-skinned, Dark Lord self.

    Hydrus sat down on the chair in the corner of the room, lifting his legs and tossing them over the arm. He didn’t want to go back to Hogwarts. He had been intensely trained by the Dark Lord, a Lord that did not accept anything but the best from Harry and in his studies he was even allowed to pick the magic that he wanted to learn and perhaps his obsession with the morbid led him straight to it, but he had gotten a good handle on the darkest of dark magic, necromancy. Not ever Voldemort knew necromancy but he wasn’t _the_ Dark Lord, he was _a_ Dark Lord and Voldemort’s second in command, above even Lucius and Severus. Speaking of the two men, he wanted to be amused and amuse Lucius but he was less than thrilled about seeing Severus. His words from that night still ringing in his mind: _What has he promised you Mr. Potter? The headmaster will see to it that your needs are m--_. His needs? His needs were never met. He had been abused and he knew for a fact that he was treated very poorly, that it was not a respectable thing to treat children like shit nor was it generally accepted.

    The Dursleys still lived, but just because they had moved out of Privet Drive and somewhere that he couldn’t locate just yet, but he hadn’t been looking long. Only searching for about two months so far, but that still seemed too long for someone of his power and magnificence. Voldemort sighed and dug through his closet for suitable dress robes. He wasn’t going on any raids but he had to make an appearance in public as his alter ego: Marvolo Slytherin. He, of course, had to remain looking human and he had to avoid Albus Dumbledore at all costs since he knew what he looked like in his more human form. Tom, or Marvolo, had a meeting with Lucius for the Hogwarts Board of Directors and since he was an heir to the founding members, he had more say than not.

    “Lucius will be busy with me until the meeting ends and then I’m sure he has work that needs to be done. He can’t always tend to you and your desires. Find someone your own age, they are more likely to be available whenever the need strikes you,” Hydrus groaned loudly at Voldemort’s words and got off the chair, he pressed himself against the back of Tom.

    “But you’re so beautiful and you’re so close, why can I have you when I want you?”

    “Because I have other places to be as opposed to bed,” Tom pulled out a proper dress robe and he had to use a strong glamour to make himself appear shorter. It was quite painful as it really did break the legs in his bones to hobble him therefore making him shorter. It took many months of walking and trying to walk normally in such pain to be able to successfully cast and stay under the glamour for his meetings. “I don’t have the luxury of working beneath another Dark Lord who does all my work for me like I do yours. You can cut me some time by working on your own paperwork and dealing with the vaults yourself and maybe we can invite Lucius to give you something to sate you until you find someone _interesting_ at school. I’m sure you have no ability to stay celibate for more than a month at most and any longer would mean the apocalypse is upon us. Now, remove yourself from my back so I can dress and be on my way.”

    “Promise you’ll bring Lucius back if I get my work done?”

    “I will floo call and if you have successfully filed and managed everything that needed to be done, then we will both come to you,” Voldemort stripped his current black robes and dressed in the darker, velvet robes with intricate embroidery just showing how much money he had put into his clothes. Hydrus sighed.

    “I will be in the office then, at least give me a kiss,” Hydrus put his hands on his hips and Tom gave in to his temptation and kissed Hydrus softly before pulling away quickly. He didn’t need Hydrus to wrap his arms around him and keep him in place, no he had learned from the previous times that Hydrus had taken advantage of his lenience and lapse in judgement (like trusting Hydrus to behave himself). Voldemort exited the bedroom they were in and walked down the stairs and cast the glamour before walking into the fire place and throwing floo powder at his feet. He was at the Atrium in an instant.

    Hydrus didn’t do any work and therefore he didn’t get rewarded, but he did get his letter to Hogwarts that afternoon and he was so happy that he wanted to completely ignore it and pretend like he was older and didn’t have to infiltrate the school in an attempt to spy for his lover and Lord. He looked at the list of things needed and then sent his owl back to the school with confirmation that he would be attending that year. He had taken potions to change his appearance, a strenuous and uncomfortable process and even more uncomfortable since he had to let Severus poke and prod at him everytime he took another dose to make sure he was healing properly as his body reshaped itself. Tom aided in spell casting to fix him and progress the potions so he didn’t have to wait too long. He had started them at first as a twelve year old. The summer after first year he had gone to Voldemort and though he still had the rune tattoos on his back, they were always hidden under glamours or clothes as to not let anyone know who he was or the significance of him. Even Severus thought he was simply a powerful child that the Dark Lord had moulded into his perfect weapon in a very Dumbledore-like fashion, but he would die before saying such things aloud.

    So after gathering his list and getting dressed in a pair of blue dragonhide duelling trousers with a thin white jumper to cover his chest and his back. He didn’t wear his glamours despite being able to see his tattoos slightly through the back of his jumper because nobody would know what they meant, he really only had to keep them hidden from Severus and meddling Order members. Hydrus had heard of the new ‘Saviour’. He could laugh at the fickle public. They traded him off for a join effort between Ronald Weasley and Neville Longbottom. Both boys had been mysteriously put into the Triwizard Tournament held the previous year as two champions for Hogwarts, this had originally been a plan to kidnap them and kill them before they grew stronger but upon fighting them in a cemetery, both Tom and Hydrus knew that the two Gryffindors were no match for even a single one of them and definitely not both of them. They could compete, maybe, with a top tier death eaters if they weren’t on the top of the top tier (people like Lucius Malfoy and Bellatrix Black Lestrange).

    Hydrus used the floo to get to the Leaky Cauldron since it was illegal for him to apparate (a skill that most people didn’t learn to safely do until they reached majority, when their magic became fully developed). He had his list of supplies he needed and he made his way through the slightly less crowded streets of Diagon Alley. He heard familiar voices and saw familiar faces but nobody recognized him. He was still short but his face had changed, his face growing angular and aristocratic rather than goofy like his father or soft like his mother. His hands were a little like Tom’s as they were almost demonically long and sharp, his nails ended in fine points that made him look truly dangerous, almost like a gorgeous version of the usually hideous Fenrir Greyback, but Hydrus wasn’t hairy either, but his hair fell down to his shoulders and curled at the bottoms as if he had curled it magically as it fell perfectly.

    After deciding to get his textbooks first, Hydrus made his way into Flourish and Blotts. He saw the Weasley family searching for their new textbooks and he approached them only for Hermione to see. When he tried to pull away, realizing it was a bad idea to approach them, she went to him.

    “Hello, you must be the transfer student. I hear that the Beauxbatons curriculum is one of the best in the world, not as good as Hogwarts of course, but still rather good. Do you need help finding your books,” Hermione looked at the list in Hydrus’ hands. “Oh, you’re in Ancient Runes and Arithmancy, I am also in those classes. If you need any help I would be glad to offer my assistance.”

    “Er, thank you? I’m sorry, but who are you? How should I address you?”

    “I’m Hermione Granger, and you are?”

    “Hydrus Black,” Hermione didn’t look surprised, it seemed that she really did know all she could about him all ready which was a little disconcerting. Hydrus looked at the books, trying not to stare at Hermione, who was staring at him as if he was some specimen to be studied. Was she going to tell anybody about him? Could she recognize him? It should be impossible to see through all the new changes.

    “Well, if you need anything I am this year’s Gryffindor fifth year prefect and I would be more than willing to help,” she turned to see the Weasleys leaving, Ron being dragged off by Molly for some reason or another. “I must get going, I will see you at Hogwarts,” she left the bookshop after paying for the books she had collected, most of which weren’t even for the school’s curriculum but for her own personal education (as she taught herself all she could). Hydrus got the books he needed, scoffing at the titles. _Worthless_ , he thought as he took them to the counter and paid for them with the Slytherin vault key. He went to get school robes next and then for potion ingredients. He hadn’t been in Diagon Alley for a long time. Sure, he had passed the shops on his way to Knockturn, but he hadn’t been inside the boring little stores since before his first year and even then, Knockturn didn’t offer the best books that he needed: Asia, Africa and South America had the best books of his favourite subjects after all and all he needed to do is use a little translation spell (until he had learned the common languages to accurately translate them) to read through them. The magic he played with was dangerous and he couldn’t afford to get a spell incorrect and lose his body, soul and everything else that was at stake with such powerful magic. He was tampering and dabbling in Death’s domain and the only reason he had been able to continue was because he was born to be a necromancer, born with the ability to channel such types of dark magicks.

    By the time Hydrus returned to Riddle Manor, he had missed out on Lucius and Tom who had parted ways after the meeting. Tom was in his office reviewing the new plans for the school for the year while also trying to find a suitable way to break the news of who would be assigned to the school. Dolores Umbridge was not a new face to Hydrus or Tom, in fact they dealt with her the first year that Hydrus had stayed at the manor. They had met with her when Marvolo Slytherin was introduced to the public and he claimed his seats. He introduced his named heir, Hydrus Black, and Dolores had tried to weasel her way into their good graces ever since, claiming that they were superior due to their pure blood, just as she had pure blood. The gall on that liar and Hydrus didn’t take it well when others lied to him or held information that he needed.

    A few death eaters entered the manor to lounge around. It wasn’t uncommon for death eaters to show up at the manor, especially what remained of the inner circle, in order to escape their obnoxious families or to take a break from the Light demands of the Ministry. They also came to hide their possessions, such as their dark artifacts, since the Ministry had been raiding estates and manors since 1992 when the bill was passed by Arthur Weasley and his muggle-loving department. Hydrus didn’t pay the visiting underlings any attention as he made his way up to the Dark Lord’s office. He didn’t knock and when he entered he saw that Voldemort was alone. He shut the door and sat on one of the chairs. He looked at Tom, who was scribbling on documents and shuffling papers around. He had become a real paper shuffler over the years and Hydrus was just itching for a good raid. He had only heard the stories of their raids from some of the death eaters and even Lucius when he reminisced about their old glory.

    Hydrus approached the desk, leaning over to take a look at what Tom was doing. Great, he was busy with boring paperwork, how drab but sadly common in his lover’s scheduled days.

    Tom glanced up at his consistently salacious lover. “Yes?”

    “I’m bored,” Hydrus grumbled, leaning down enough to give the Dark Lord a kiss. “You’ve been doing that paperwork long enough. Pay _attention to me_ **_now_**.” Hydrus took a look at the paperwork, skimming over it but not really reading it or processing the words. There was nothing worth his time anyway and he honestly didn't really care what they said,but he just wanted to seem interested so the Dark Lord didn’t decide that he was being a nuisance and immediately send him away, he couldn’t be sent away now, not with what _he wanted_.

    “Not now, I’m busy… as you can tell by the stacks of work,” he motioned with a small nod to a stack of twenty or so papers. He’d been working for a few solid hours now and hadn’t even started on those yet. It seemed like the more he got done the more it continued to pile up. When did he, the infamous Dark Lord, become such a paper pusher? He was just as bored with it as Hydrus was if not more so since he was the one having to read all the nondescript nonsense his brainless underlings compiled for him. At least when he received Lucius’ papers they were in order by list of importance, his idiots didn’t even bother themselves with the work. Perhaps they needed to be reminded why he was in charge and how his cruelty lash out if he was vexed. They were all so very vexing.

    “You’ve been working since morning though, come on,” Hydrus whined, pressing another kiss to Tom’s jaw and neck before being pushed away by the other. He stumbled back and crossed his arms like a petulant child. This behaviour would not help him in the least but he was feeling childish and at least the brats of the Dark Lord’s bootlickers got attention and satisfaction. They got everything they wanted and he was stuck playing all by himself.  

    “Not now, go find someone else to entertain you. Go get Lucius or Draco or… someone else,” he said sternly, trying to shoo away his young lover. It’d been years since he was a teenager, Tom almost forgot how needy they were. Why couldn’t he just do his own paperwork, or prepare his things for Hogwarts, or literally anything else that didn’t involve bothering Tom while he was trying to work. Being a Dark Lord was difficult and having a needy lover was even harder, he was still struggling to find a balance. Thankfully, Hydrus knew just what he needed almost all the time (unless he didn’t).

    That’s when Hydrus had the perfect idea pop into his head. He kneeled down before crawling under the mahogany desk.

    Tom sighed, “Hydrus what in the world are you -- oh,” he was stopped when he felt Hydrus’ hand palming between his legs. “Now is not the time for this, I really have to do this work and if someone walks in, well…”

    “Well what? You’re the Dark Lord. Don’t worry about it, I locked the door,” he lied, he hadn’t locked the door. Nobody was going to walk in, this was the Dark Lord’s office, but it was cute that still thought he was any semblance of normal enough to be faced with such disrespect. However, they would definitely be left alone unless some idiot decided he wanted to feel the wrath of two merciless dark wizards at the same time or someone had a serious death wish. “Just keep working. I'm just helping you unwind a bit,” Hydrus smirked and slowly unbuttoned and unzipped Tom’s pants, pulling his half hard cock from his pants. Even through his protests, Tom wanted nothing more than to have his lover’s mouth wrapped around his hardening erection. Harry stroked him slowly until he was fully hard and gave his length a tentative lick all the way up from the base up to the tip. He continued to stroke him, gingerly, as he wrapped his mouth around the tip. As he became more confident, he opted for running his tongue along Tom’s slit in a way that made his older lover shudder.

    He listened to Hydrus’ enthusiastic noises and tried to continue his work, but was finding it harder and harder to concentrate with the boy working him like this. Hydrus took the rest of Tom’s cock in his mouth, moaning wantonly around it. Tom slipped a hand down his long, gangly fingers lacing through Potter’s thick, dark curls.

    Forget work, he suddenly decided. There was no possible way he could focus on such boring paperwork with such a pretty little thing under his desk pleasuring him.

    “You’re such a little whore, aren’t you? My little whore,” he said, looking down at Hydrus, all swollen lips and drool with precum running down his chin. Harry moaned in response, reaching down with one hand to stroke his own aching cock. “Ah ah, no touching, my pet,” Tom commanded, pushing Harry’s hand away gently with his foot. He laced his other hand through Potter’s hair and forced the boy to take in more of his thick cock. Harry choked at first, but quickly adjusted to take more and more of it until his nose was pressed against Tom’s pubic bone, coarse hair tickling his face. The whole time Harry made direct eye contact with Tom, which just made Tom more turned on than he thought he possibly could be. He wanted to take the other here and now, pick up his slender frame and bring it up on the desk and just fuck him senseless. But of course he couldn’t, not this time.

    Tom could feel himself getting closer as he thrusted himself desperately into Hydrus’ warm mouth.

    “Good boy. Take it all, just like that,” Tom moaned. Hydrus continued to work Tom’s cock until finally Tom came, thrusting into the back of the boy’s throat once more and releasing his seed into the back of his mouth, forcing Hydrus to swallow it.

    “Come here,” he coaxed, tucking himself back into his pants before pulling Hydrus up onto his lap. “Let me take care of you.” Tom wiped away the saliva and cum off of Hydrus’ face before kissing him deeply,  reaching down to stroke his aching cock. Hydrus buried his face into the crook of Tom’s neck and moaned quietly, wrapping his arms around the Dark Lord's neck. He finished fairly quick, cumming in Tom’s hand. He grabbed said hand, staring at Tom as he licked and sucked the cum from his fingers.

    “Good boy,” Tom gave Hydrus a chance to collect himself. “Now will you let me finish my work?”

    “Yes, sir,” Hydrus replied, kissing Tom before heading towards the door. “Hurry up though. I'm not done yet,” the rest of the day seemed to go so slow, but when he found Hydrus in his room, beautifully spread out for him, he figured it was worth the wait now that he had the rest of the night to please and be pleased.

 

    The Hogwarts Express wasn’t as large as Hydrus had remembered it. In fact it seemed so unappealing and small that it only intensified his dislike for the plans that had been made. Not only did he have to deal with annoying teenagers, said with the mentality of an older, matured man rather than a teenager as he was, and professors that he disliked greatly. Not only would he have to deal with Severus Snape, who was bound to either be terrified of him and make his suffering harsher or completely ignore him. Neither option sounded appealing. Then in the Defense class, Dolores fucking Umbridge, of all people, had been named professor by the Ministry. At least she would suck up to him rather than punish him. Also, both options sounded unappealing and Hydrus wished he had been able to convince the Dark Lord that sending him to Hogwarts was a terrible misplacement of his strongest ally, but Voldemort had plans. He always had plans it seemed and though he told Hydrus some of what was going on, it wasn’t entirely safe to give him all the information. Hydrus didn’t like not knowing things, but if Tom thought it was for the best he would suffer in silence and allow the older man to take care of him. He had been taking care of Hydrus for years and Hydrus never felt anything but care from the older man despite his icy exterior of disdain and indifference.

    Hydrus boarded the train behind Draco Malfoy. Over the years, neither boy had grown a fondness for each other like everyone tried to push them to do. In fact, Draco only grew to resent and dislike Hydrus even more, but not only had Hydrus took his family from him, he had the nerve to sleep with his father. He didn’t like to think about it not because it was awkward thinking of his father in a sexual situation but because Hydrus wasn’t good enough for the Malfoys, he wasn’t even close. Little Malfoy also hadn’t realized that Lord Asmodeus was Hydrus, but it was better if the dragon didn’t know of Hydrus’ true power. It didn’t mean that he wasn’t afraid of Hydrus though. He had to have some sort of ability if the Dark Lord had protected him and taught him so much, but that didn’t mean he had to like him at all (and just because he was powerful, Draco refused to let his ability blind the fact that he was a stupid halfblood and more importantly he was Harry bloody Potter, his enemy).

    On the train, Draco met up with the friends he had grown up with during his four previous years of school and Hydrus followed him awkwardly. The first year he had been in school he had been a Gryffindor. He wasn’t familiar with any of these people and the ones he was familiar with had tormented him. They greeted Hydrus warmly despite their coldness to others.

    “You’re a Black?!” Blaise Zabini had shrieked before hiding his face in his hands and dramatically dragging his fingers down his face. “You’ve been at Beauxbatons you say? Interesting. I knew that some of the Black family still had roots in France but I didn’t know that they would be willing to allow the heir to attend anything less than Hogwarts.”

    “Believe it or not, Hogwarts does not have the best wizarding education. It only teaches light magicks and often neutral magicks. This isn’t going to help anyone in the long run. It is a shame that the British Ministry of Magic is so narrow minded as to keep their children from learning important magic. It’s because they fear it, you know. They all fear the power that others have and the Dark Arts are the strongest and only those with great potential can master them,” Hydrus crossed his legs and looked out the window. The drive had never been so long before, but he had also been excited for his first year, he was less than thrilled to be having to go to the school now so he was sure the year would drag by quite slowly if only to torment him even more than naturally possible. The other Slytherins in the booth leaned forwards towards him.

    “You talk about the Dark Arts as if you aren’t scared that anyone will hear you. That’s dangerous,” Theodore Nott started, nervous that Hydrus would get himself targeted and hurt or even worse, arrested and thrown into Azkaban just like half of his family. “That type of magic isn’t accepted here. It’s taught in secret. That’s why they consider You-Know-Who a _Dark_ Lord, whereas he would just be considered a master in other parts of the world,” Hydrus chuckled.

    “No, Voldemort is considered a Dark Lord _everywhere_ , he is the darkest wizard to walk the earth for a very long time. Perhaps as strong as Morgana herself and I hear he has very powerful followers…” Hydrus frowned and leaned forward, his body becoming tense compared to how relaxed he had been only moments before. “Let me tell you all a little something. The Dark Lord, Lord Voldemort, is the strongest wizard in the world, and I don’t think any of you are strong enough to serve him yet even though I can taste your desire to follow him. You wouldn’t be _his_ followers anyway. He has an apprentice, there is another Dark Lord that is his lover, I’ve met him, he’s quite… _entertaining_ ,” Hydrus licked his lips and leaned back. Draco was usually pale, but he was stark white, his hair looked too dark for his body as the colour literally drained from his face. His grey eyes were wide and he turned to look at Hydrus.

    “His _lover_?” He finally asked.

    “Yes. Lord Asmodeus. He’s a necromancer, the strongest necromancer since Erichtho of Rome,” Hydrus smiled and turned to Draco. “I’m sure your father can tell you all about him, they are also quite _fond_ of each other,” Draco paled even more. Pansy and Blaise looked at Draco, concerned for their friend who was very clearly scared. Pansy reached out and put her hand on Draco’s knee in an offer of comfort. He didn’t even look away from Hydrus to acknowledge her movement.

    “Draco…” she called as sweetly as she could and Hydrus sighed and stood up, pulling his school robes down from the shelf where he had his things. He changed his shirt, his runes exposed. He was having fun, he loved letting people know that it was him that was powerful, that he was strong. He didn’t often think of the repercussions though, which were where he usually went wrong but his punishment for letting things slip was either too enjoyable to not do again or sometimes they were so infuriating he felt challenged to let information slip again. This is also a reason why he knew that the Dark Lord didn’t give him all of the information. Out of fear that he would let the information slip and therefore ruin his plans. Hydrus understood his concern but he could keep a secret given it was important to keep to himself. Intimidating Draco’s little friends and scaring the living shite out of Draco wasn’t going to cause much trouble and maybe he would get some firm handly from Lucius or Tom (or even better: both).  Pansy gasped at his rune tattoos and she watched as his muscles, what very lean almost invisible muscles that Harry had, rippled as much as possible as he moved. He wasn’t very muscular, and definitely not as physically strong as Draco, Blaise and definitely not Theo, but he was stronger than all three of them combined and he was lithe, agile, he was able to dodge and avoid attacks easier than he would be if he were to grow too muscular. Also, his lovers didn’t mind his petite form and they both thought it was adorable which only made Hydrus like what he had even more.

    He kept his black dragonhide pants on because there was no way he was walking into a school without some form of armor on, especially not with those stupid ‘saviours’ around who would likely see him as a threat (which was giving them enough credit for them to be able to sense and know when someone was stronger and better than them). Hydrus pulled a white shirt over his shoulders and buttoned it up before dressing in his plain vest and the blank tie. He pulled a standard robe, charmed to gain the symbols of the chosen house after the sorting. Hydrus sat back down after folding his other shirt and putting it in his trunk of stuff. He turned to look at the staring Slytherins.

    “What’s on your back?” Blaise finally asked as tactfully as a toad.

    “Tattoos. They’re runes,” Blaise nodded, he knew that already he needed more than that. He waited for more information but it became clear that Hydrus wasn’t going to indulge him with the rest, so he sat back and crossed his arms in a pout. Pansy looked out the window in an attempt to hide her flushed cheeks and Theo groaned, relaxing against the back of his seat, not realizing how tense he had gotten at seeing the runes. He recognized the one meaning life and death, or rebirth and then the one of mankind and the mark of the Gods as well as the gift. It had seemed like it read something like: a person given the gift of immortality due to the Gods’ possession of the person, or it could mean of the man’s possession over man. It was complicated and runes were easily mistranslated but it seemed to make sense. Life and death, Malfoy going stark white, the necromancer, how Hydrus had such information. He shivered as he went over the details in his head. He didn’t want to go to school with a crazy necromancer! His father was already pressuring him into taking the Dark Mark the following summer so now he would be under someone who practiced the darkest of magicks and the most cruel and unforgiving as well. It was wrong -- necromancy was wrong.

    Eventually everyone changed into their clothes and Hydrus watched them as they had all watched him. They approached the school and Pansy led the group over to another constellate of Slytherins who were all in a glaring match with a group of Gryffindors. Hydrus was disappointed in his fellow classmates because the rivalry between houses was going to end. It was inappropriate for people so old to behave so immaturely. Hydrus put his hands on the two girl’s shoulders and they stopped their harsh stares to look at him. He was about the same height as them but he wouldn’t likely get any taller. He wasn’t even close to being as tall as his lovers or even Draco and he wasn’t exactly a giant or demonically heightened like the Dark Lord.

    “How pety is this? You are not children, I expect you to act according to your age. It’s disgusting that I’m already having to be annoyed by the foolish rivalries between the stupid houses. If I had my way I wouldn’t have a house just to forgo this ignorant bullshite. Understand ladies?” Hydrus released the girls’ shoulders before they could slap his hand away and he had his wand out and both girls frozen, their hands shaking with their desire to grab their wands but not being able to move. “Drawing your wands and pointing them at _me_ would not be advisable because I highly doubt you have an inkling of who you’re dealing with. Now, do we understand that we’re big girls and not spoiled toddlers?” They both tried to nod and he released them before leaving all of the other students and getting into a carriage. He could see the dark horses pulling the carriages but he wasn’t sure what they were. His expertise wasn’t magical creatures but he had an idea. Demonic horses with wings that only a small percent of students could see, at least according to all the frowns and confused glares as to how the carriages were being pulled. The carriage wouldn’t pull itself until it was full of students and as if he didn’t just display shocking magic, a little Ravenclaw girl crawled up into the carriage and sat by the thestral. She reached her hand out and petted the creature’s rump and played with the skin covered wings. Draco and his group got into the carriage as well. Draco had been tasked with watching Hydrus and keeping him controlled and he had definitely failed so far.

    The castle was as grand as Hydrus remembered it from three years earlier, but he hadn’t seen it from their current angle before which was stunning on its own. He still didn’t want to be there, but seeing the castle in its magnificence certainly could make the time spent there slightly more bearable. Hydrus was held behind with the first years and told the rules. Most of the first years stared at him, unnerved by him just because he wasn’t young like him and nobody knew what to expect from him. The staff and older students were even more frightened by Hydrus since they had no basis of his knowledge. The staff had requested a transcript of his previous years and they had been quite perfect but that in itself was a little disconcerting. He was the perfect student which meant he must have had quite a vast pool of knowledge to draw from. Professor McGonagall led him to the front along with the fumbling firsties. Hydrus watched them with a certain fondness. They reminded him of his first year, and how he had been so enthralled by everything. Of course this made him bitter because of his treatment and the life-threats he had to deal with constantly. The hat started singing just as it had the first year but it was much less startling when it jumped to life when he expected it to start shouting/singing at the top of its nonexistent but purely magical lungs.  

    Professor McGonagall called Hydrus first and his name got him a lot of stares. Hydrus Black. Who was he the child of? Why hadn’t be been to Hogwarts the entire time? Hydrus sat on the chair and McGonagall placed the hat on his head.

    “ _Ah yes, I remember you. Under a different name now, hmm? Taken in and raised, I knew you would be great. Without a question you must be in_ … SLYTHERIN!” Some of the Slytherin’s clapped but others, the few who had seen him and the ones who were afraid of him (but wouldn’t admit it) didn’t clap but stared at him and whispered to their friends about the possible reasons for his strangeness. Hydrus took a seat next to Draco, which made Draco want to groan and curse the heavens. Why was he stuck with this little thief, the little demon-in-training? He hated it, he hated the orders he had received and he hated it even more because he hated Hydrus Black aka Harry Potter.

    The rest of the sorting went by quickly, and Hydrus clapped for ever new Slytherin and every new student for every house which really threw everybody off. He was sure that he seemed crazy, clapping for everybody. He didn’t want interhouse unity, he didn’t care about uniting anything, he wanted to gain followers everywhere so he had plenty of different types of people under him. Hufflepuffs would be loyal and stable while the Gryffindors would be brash and perfect for suicide runs with their misplaced sense of justice and righteousness. He just had to convince them that he was justice, he was goodness, and he was their leader. He didn’t know how he would accomplish that yet, but he was planning it out carefully. His take over and sequential reign would be glorious. He would have the loyalties of everyone he deemed worthy of being at his side and fighting with or for him.

 

    Classes were interesting in the fact that they were completely boring. However he did get to see the way that his ex-friend Ronald Weasley and should-be-Hufflepuff Neville Longbottom acted now that they were famous. In Defense, Professor Umbridge -- Merlin, he hated that woman -- passed out books on theory. Hydrus was fine with theory, it’s not like anybody would learn much from any of this anyway. It was a defensive class, they needed to learn offensive spells if they were ever going to start their beginning efforts at competing with the death eaters since it was clear that neither the Weasel or Longbottom would have a chance to get past all their death eaters to even try to face off with Hydrus and Voldemort. They could let them live in their falsified glory for a little bit before they are knocked down to their rightful place in the ground.

    “How are we going to fight Voldemort?” Ron asked loudly, causing the class to turn and focus their attention on him. Umbridge’s lips pursed. Hydrus had heard of Umbridge and the Minister’s complete denial that either of them existed.

    “Or that other guy,” Neville whispered. He was still his timid self but he was growing out of his shell a little bit more every day. He wasn’t Ron, he didn’t thrive on attention, glory and money. He liked being hidden but when Harry went missing, he had to step up and take responsibility for being the Saviour and Ron had gladly taken the position. He often spoke for the both of them, Ronald, since Neville didn’t like talking or really existing most of the time.

    “He is not back, therefore you do not need to trouble yourselves with practical lessons. Of course, this is what has been added to the curriculum by the Board of Governors as well as the Ministry. Are you trying to tell me that every adult has their information wrong?” She looked tense, and her shoulders probably ached from being so uptight. Hydrus was waiting for her to unclench and let that diamon fall from her arse, but of course, he just raised his eyebrows at Ron and Neville. Neville even turned to look at him before he turned away, there was something so similar and evil in those eyes it made him uncomfortable.

    “Professor Umbridge,” Hydrus called, gaining her attention as well as the rest of the class’. “I think it is impossible to try and explain it to him, he quite obviously doesn’t have many functioning brain cells. What page would you like us to turn to?”

    “Page seventeen, Mr. Black,” she looked around. “That goes for all of you, please.”

    Hydrus opened the book and flipped through the pages. These weren’t the books on the required materials. These were purely theoretical, delving into the proper wand movements and why they were important and how to avoid messing them up as well as how the spell came to be and how it is applicable to everyday situations or even situations in which there is a possible threat, but it mostly focused on everyday use or use in sanctioned duels. Professor Umbridge turned around and walked to the front of the class, her little pink kitten heels clicking against the stone floor as she made her way up. She was by far shorter than Hydrus. She wasn’t even five feet tall and Hydrus was at least, if not exactly, five and a half feet tall.

    “I don’t think it is wise to restrict our learning to theoretical practice,” Ron said again. “When Voldemort--”

    “Enough! Mr. Weasley, detention with me tomorrow night,” she sighed and pushed a stray strand of hair, that had fallen loose from her perfectly shaped hair in her rage. She took deep breathes and poured herself a cup of tea from the small glass put on her desk. Her cup and pot had pink flowers in a variety of different shades. She definitely loved the colour pink. Some of the Slytherin students snickered at Ron’s embarrassment. Hydrus was not one of them, but he did read the passage she told them to read and then she explained and she cast the spell in a demonstration and then told them what they needed to do for homework. She dismissed the class with a smile on her face and Hydrus thought that maybe the year wouldn’t be too bad afterall. He didn’t mind that they had DADA with Gryffindors this year either. In first year, he had been paired with the Hufflepuffs so this wasn’t so different, except now everyone expected him to be evil instead of their Saviour. He didn’t mind the change in opinion.

    By Friday, Hydrus missed his home, he missed the Dark Lord, he missed Lucius, he missed eavesdropping on the death eaters or startling house elves (torturing poor Dobby who seemed to be obsessed with him yet couldn’t tell anyone who he really was without hurting himself horribly). He even missed the long hours of meditation and time to explore his mindscape and the astral plane. He didn’t get the quiet, the comfort or the privacy to safely go into a trance which was disappointing. Hydrus leaned against one of the posts for his four post bed in the Slytherin Fifth Year Boys’ Dormitory. He could hear whispers from across the room where Theo, Blaise and Draco had gone and excluded him. Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle were like brick walls, too dumb to follow and too dumb to lead, but they were strong and that could be useful. Never trust them with secrets, but use them. That was the smart and obvious choice and taming the boys was simple: give them what they want. If they wanted to eat sweets then Hydrus would give them sweets, he would offer anything to keep them tamed and following him. It would be best if they became dependent on him, then he would have absolute power over them before they even knew what happened and he could use them to do his dirty work, the dirty work that he didn’t want to do himself at least.

    Gregory and Vincent sat on one bed, nearly forcing the other off the bed by their sheer size. They grunted and elbowed each other every now and then but for the most part they were silent and still. Calm it seemed. They didn’t expect anyone to hurt them, they didn’t expect anything bad to happen in the safety and comfort of their dorm. Hydrus slipped onto the bed between them and waited for them to notice him. They lay across the bed, not vertically like they would if they were sleeping, and Harry’s feet barely touched the ground when he bent over and rested his back against the bed. He got a soft elbow from Gregory before Vincent turned and saw that Hydrus had joined them.  
    “Crabbe,” Gregory called causing his friend to look up from the magazine in his hands. The cover said it was a Quidditch magazine but the inside content was clearly much more mature. “What are you doing here?”

    “I’m just relaxing. I have some chocolate frogs, but I have all the cards and I’m not too big of a sweets eater, would you like some?” Vincent looked hesitant but longing at the same time. Hydrus saw the hesitancy and smiled, rolling onto his side and running his fingers over Vincent (Crabbe’s) arm, glaring up at his porn magazine. “That looks fun, have you tried that before?” Hydrus asked pointing up at one of the pictures. Vincent blushed and shut the magazine.

    “Er, no… so you said something about chocolate frogs?” Vincent looked over Hydrus’ chest and over at his friend. Gregory nodded his head as they spoke silently.

    “Yes, I have some, let me get them,” Hydrus stood up and went to his trunk and pulled out the collection of sweets he would likely never eat. He loved candy, he just didn’t like chocolate, he liked cherry flavoured things and strawberry flavoured candies. He even enjoyed blood pops, something oddly satisfying about the metallic flavour, but he was never a fan of chocolate. Draco always grudgingly gave him his chocolate as an offering of an apology and it would somehow be useful. He didn’t lie about collecting the cards, he did have a tin in his bedroom under his bed full of cards from chocolate frog boxes. He went back to the two boys and sat down, he dropped the candy, in a velvet drawstring bag, and opened it up, pushing the bag down and letting the boxes of chocolate frogs and all the other chocolatey confections spill out onto the bed and travel towards his legs and down against Vincent and Gregory as it slid into the dips in the bed. “I just have one thing to ask of you, if that is alright.”

    “Whad’ya want?” Gregory said as he reached out and picked up a chocolate covered honeycomb and then a box of fudge flies.

    “I just need someone to make sure that the Gryffindors don’t bother me. That’s all. If you would be amenable to that of course, and I’ll let you have all of these chocolates,” Hydrus picked out a few stray candies that weren’t chocolate and unwrapped a butter toffee before sucking on it. He tucked the other candies he had separated into the pocket of his robe.

    “That’s all?” Gregory sounded suspicious, and he clearly was, however as a Slytherin letting others know what was going on in your head wasn’t an admirable trait for a Slytherin. Hydrus didn’t care about what made Slytherins different from the Gryffindors or anything similar to that, but it wasn’t a good quality to have in a minion. If they were readable, they were predictable and that was the opposite of what Hydrus needed. He needed people who would keep the enemy on their toes, if they weren’t predictable then there was no way to plan a counter-attack. Hydrus raised a finger to his chin and his eyes narrowed. He looked between Vincent and Gregory.

    “I think it is, but if I ask for anything else, will you give it to me?” Hydrus stood up. “It won’t be anything too trying.”

    “Yeah, we can do it,” Vincent said after confirming silently with Gregory. Hydrus’ lips curled into a smile, a cruel smile, but a smile nonetheless and he turned and leaned against his bed post again. Draco looked up at him before looking back down at his friends and continuing his train of thought.

    “He’s staring at us again,” Draco noted, interrupting Theo’s little rant about how he hated Astronomy because it was boring but he still felt the need to take it so he would know about it in case he needed to know that sort of information. Theo stopped talking and both he and Blaise turned to look at Hydrus who was indeed leering at them. The boys turned back to Draco, who was somewhat of a ringleader to them.

    “What does he want?” Theo finally asked after several seconds of silence. Hydrus had moved and was now in bed, under the covers. Draco glared at the bed that housed Hydrus. The curtains were pulled shut but they were sheer so he could see what was going on inside on the bed roughly and he seemed to be sleeping or at least he was under his covers, still, and his body raised and lowered with the expansion and collapse of his lungs.

     “He’s in bed now. He didn’t even shower,” Draco really hated Hydrus, he stood up and went to his trunk. He pulled out his toiletries and clothes. “But since we’re on the topic of hygiene, I’m going to go clean up,” if Theo and Blaise perceived any of Draco’s dismissal towards them as being rude, they didn’t show it at all and just waved him off as they went back to their conversation. They knew when Draco was bored he was best off to just leave them alone because he would want attention and someone to entertain him because he really disliked boredom. They had plenty of homework they could have been doing but Blaise was trying to talk about a new girl and Theo was just absently pretending to listen so that Blaise would continue to be his friend despite his father being a death eater, which was the reason that many people avoided him, they new of his father working for the Dark Lord and they new that Kaius Nott was a very stern and powerful man. Nobody wanted to get on the wrong side of Kaius (and by extension Theo) so therefore nobody really trusted themselves to talk to him without saying something to offend him and if an upperclassman did talk to Theo it was to request an audience with the Dark Lord. Nobody really knew Theo though and Blaise had never had any qualms about conversing with his friend because Theo was a giant nerd, a kicked puppy, not some notorious killing machine raised as a weapon for the Dark Lord. He didn’t even want to follow his father’s footsteps and serve Voldemort and both Blaise and Draco knew that. Despite all of his past aspiration to be like his father about a year earlier, Draco had stopped wanting to be around his father and he didn’t talk about him much either and perhaps it was because of what Hydrus had said about Mr. Malfoy palling around with the Dark Lord’s lover but with the way Draco acted towards Hydrus it was clear that there was something more there that they didn’t know.

    Hydrus waited in bed, pulling his covers up over his ears and relaxing his body, he was aching for attention but he had nobody to give him anything. He could have offered himself to Crabbe and Goyle, they were probably well proportioned, but then there was the fact that if he slept with people so beneath him then what would Lucius think of him and would he ever touch him once he had been tainted by the sheep-like followers of the Dark Lord, the ones dumber than dumb and merely convenient. Hydrus rolled over and looked out of the sheer drapes at Theo and Blaise. They still sat on the floor behind Theo’s bed, the one closest to the door on the opposite side of the room as Hydrus’ bed. He imagined Blaise, he had gotten an eyeful of him on the train and even Theo wasn’t bad. One was Kaius Nott’s son though, and while Hydrus respected Kaius, he didn’t want to do anything to make him lash out. Hydrus may be above all of the death eaters, Kaius included, but that didn’t mean he wanted an enemy. It left him open for an attack if he pissed the death eaters off as none of them were loyal to _him_ , they were loyal to the Dark Lord, the Darkest Dark Lord, Lord Voldemort, not Lord Asmodeus and definitely not to Hydrus Black who they thought was simply the Dark Lord’s apprentice. While being in such a position was still preferable than being a lowly death eater, it still didn’t mean that they _had_ to protect him but rather they did out of fear of what Voldemort would do if they allowed him to be hurt. Kaius had no such fear and that made him dangerous.

    A few hours later, Hydrus had fallen into a state between sleep and not sleep. It was very unpleasant because he was still wanting and also unpleasant because he wasn’t asleep so he could be doing interesting things in his dreams. He hated being stuck in a fifteen year old body, his mind was much more mature than fifteen. Also, hormones were horrible, and having a sex drive that couldn’t be handled was irritating. If only he was back home where he had access to his lovers and his lovers had access to him. He wasn’t though, and he had been given advice and the OK to play with any of the pretty boys and girls his own age. Why age seemed to be such an issue with the Dark Lord was beyond Hydrus, but he always brought it up. Once everyone was settled in the dorm, Hydrus sat up and pushed his curtains open and lay back on his bed. He hooked his thumbs under his waist band and pulled them down until he had to push them the rest of the way. He toes off the heap of fabric around his ankles and he kicked it over the side of the bed. He pushed his briefs down just enough to expose his semi-hardness. He reached down and held himself, the warmth of his hand around him was already pleasant. He spread his legs apart and pulled his knees up slightly before giving himself an experimental squeeze. He let out a moan and he heard the rustling of fabric as some of the boys shifted around.

    Holding out his empty hand he summoned the lube from his trunk wandlessly and it flew into his hand, slapping against his palm. He looked at the little phial of oil and pushed his blankets down. Not only was the warmth nice, but the coolness of the surrounding air wasn’t too bad either. He twisted the lid off of the phial with one hand while he held the actual glass between his teeth and he poured some of the oil over his member and it leaked down, like a trail of warmth dripping over him and between his cheeks. He closed his eyes and bucked his hips forward into his hand. He let out a quieter moan but the softness of his moan didn’t stop from others shifting in their bed. _Pay attention to me!_ Hydrus wanted to yell at his peers and have them all give him attention, to come to him and please him and enjoy him. If it was considered an addiction, he ignored it, but that didn’t stop him from craving satisfaction. It wasn’t as if he would be stealing it away from them, he would repay them for their _generosity_.

    “ _Draco_ ,” he called, closing his eyes and arching his back up and thrusting his hips forward. Draco rolled over and Hydrus called to him again. Draco was pleasantly warm, his dreams shifted from the venting of his frustrations to sultry groups of stunning vixens, all pawing at him. He could hear them moan his name. He heard it again and he didn’t want to wake up but at the demand of his name again his eyes cracked open. He froze, seeing Hydrus in bed, his fist around his length and his body obscenely displayed for everyone in the dorm to see if they so desired to see him.

    “Close your curtains, dammit,” he hissed out, turning to look away despite truly not wanting to. His hatred for Hydrus was strong but apparently not strong enough to deter him from wanting such a willing and beautiful body despite it belonging to his enemy. Hydrus let out a low moan before calling for Draco again.

    “ _Draco_ , give me attention, give me anything…” _you’re beautiful, just like your father, and I want you_ **_now_ ** . This was truly something to be torn about. He could roll over and possibly bed the boy (or was he a man  now?) whom he had disliked and grown to hate in the years spent with him or he could ignore him, clearly against his body’s wishes. Perhaps Hydrus would just leave him alone if he ignored him long enough. _But do_ I _want that_? Draco dramatically rolled back on his side. “Come to me. Now.”

    Although he was hesitant he got out of his bed, stepping on the fabric of Hydrus’ sleep pants on the floor before standing above Hydrus’ bed. The boy released himself and sat up on his knees, he leaned forward and placed a soft kiss on Draco’s lips, his hand wrapping around Draco’s head and holding the nap of his neck while his oily fingers traveled up under his shirt. Draco didn’t know how he was _supposed_ to react to this. He had his fair share of women and a few boys his age, but he had to think about how Hydrus had been claimed by the Dark Lord. Who was he to touch him even if he hated him? Draco opened his mouth as did Hydrus and Draco’s hands pushed up the shirt that covered his enemy’s torso. Hydrus was a demanding little thing, pulling Draco onto his bed, scooting himself up against his headboard. Draco instinctively slid between Hydrus’ legs when he was pulled closer. Hydrus leaned his head back against the wall and Draco took advantage of the throat, now exposed to him. Did he have a _right_ to mark him, was that allowed? Would he be punished for continuing his ministrations? Hydrus’ reaction to him told him that he wouldn’t be punished and his attention was being enjoyed. He enjoyed being enjoyed and when he pushed Hydrus’ shirt up and kissed down his chest, his enemy’s hand moved from the nape of his neck to his shoulder before moving to his throat and gripping it. Draco had never felt such a sensation. Everyone was too afraid to do anything to him, much less attempt to asphyxiate him, but it was surprisingly pleasurable.

    Draco fell back and Hydrus crawled ontop of him, tossing his briefs off the bed. He pushed his current lover’s shirt up and kissed his chest and down to his hips. His fingers trailed up Draco’s sides, ghosting over his warm skin. The shirt was discarded and tossed on the floor much to Draco’s disatisfaction but Hydrus made sure to distract him from the careless dismissal of his clothing by kissing and sucking his neck. He, unlike Draco, wasn’t afraid to leave any marks, and although he did wish to embarrass him later on, he moved to his collarbones, which would be covered (or they should be), before sucking bruises into his skin. Hydrus’ hand, although one was around Draco’s throat as he continued to bite and suck on his sharp collarbones, travelled down and brushed against the tent in his pale sleep pants. His hand travelled and down from Draco’s navel and slipped under his waistband. Hydrus pulled back and looked down at Draco, his hand now beside Draco’s head while the other was occupied with stroking the gathered pre-come around the tip of Draco’s arousal and Draco let out a soft moan, looking up at Hydrus only to turn his head and look away. He didn’t want to be reminded of whose bed he was in and definitely not who was to be pleasing him.  
    “Can’t even look at me,” Hydrus cooed. “That’s such a shame. I’ve been told that I’m quite beautiful with my lips around someone’s cock. Do you not want to see me?” Hydrus moved down, to tug at Draco’s nipples with his teeth as gently but also not too gently before he kissed above and below his navel. He sat back and pulled down Draco’s pants, leaning forward to spread his legs and to mouth Draco through his briefs. Hydrus could taste the salty spot where Draco was leaking and he could hear Draco’s breath hitch. Hydrus pulled Draco’s briefs down and exposed him, bringing his cheek down Draco’s length before he licked a trail from base to tip. Draco shifted to sit up on his elbows and although he wasn’t looking at Hydrus when Hydrus looked at him, when he started to swallow his member, he could feel Draco’s eyes on him. Draco didn’t plan on giving any compliments, but Hydrus really did look quite stunning with his lips stretched around him. Hydrus stopped halfway down and looked up only to have Draco avert his gaze. He bobbed his head a few times before taking more of his enemy into his mouth. Draco moaned when Hydrus’ nose brushed against curly white-blond hair and Draco reached out with one hand to lace his fingers through Hydrus’ hair before he pulling him up harshly and thrusted into his wet heat. Hydrus opened his mouth and looked up at Draco, who was so focused on forcing Hydrus down on his cock as he fucked his mouth, he didn’t even look away from Hydrus’ eyes when they met. Rather, Draco’s eyes narrowed as he pulled Hydrus’ head back and away from him. Hydrus’ neck bent back, his adam’s apple prominent as drool leaked from the corners of his mouth in a gross display of his own mess.

    “You’re disgusting,” Draco finally said after Hydrus caught his breath. He smiled, Hydrus did, which confused Draco.

    “And you like it, don’t you?” Hydrus’ hair was dropped and Draco looked ready to just stop and finish himself but Hydrus crawled forward after being dropped, he wrapped his fingers around Draco’s slicked cock and pumped him slowly. “You like seeing me a mess, seeing me as gross and as beneath you as you feel I am,” Hydrus caught Draco’s glare.

    “You **_are_ ** _beneath me_.”

    “I am,” It came out as a statement but it seemed to be a question as Hydrus moved to straddle Draco’s abdomen. Hydrus reached back and guided Draco’s length against him and Hydrus moaned, a shiver running through his body before Draco’s head pushed inside of him. He shivered again as he continued to lower himself on Draco’s length. Draco held Hydrus’ hip with one hand, just because that is what usually happened when in this position, his hands gravitated to help steady Hydrus who had no problems it seemed with staying up. Hydrus had practiced many time with the aid of his adult lovers but he didn’t have them at the moment and Draco would have to work for now. Hydrus sunk all the way down against draco and he rose up before moving back down. He reached out with one hand to hold himself up against Draco’s chest. His dainty fingers splayed out against Draco’s sternum while the other fisted his own cock. He started to meet Draco’s shallow and slightly awkward thrusts and he moaned.

    “Go harder. I’m not going to break,” Hydrus finally stated, irritated that he wasn’t getting his needs met just yet. Draco only glared at him before pulling Hydrus’ hips down roughly while thrusting up at the same time. Hydrus moaned. Just as Hydrus was about to make a snide remark about Draco not being suitable enough to make him feel good, Draco leaned forward, pushing Hydrus onto his back. He lifted up his legs, under his knees and pulled him back against him as he thrusted as roughly as he could and moved as fast as he wanted to. Draco grunted in a very un-Malfoy way before he dropped Hydrus’ legs and pulled out, jerking himself off just a little more until he came between his legs, coating them with ropes of his seed. Hydrus whined at the loss of Draco and reached down to run his fingers through the come on his thigh before bringing it to his lips. He sucked his fingers off in a crude manner before his body shuddered and he felt his own release spill from him. He sat up after a moment and pulled Draco to him, so he could whisper in his ear. He didn’t need to other boys, most of whom were awake now, to hear what he was about to say. “No matter how much better you think you are, you’re still not as good as your father,” Hydrus leaned back and grabbed his wand to clean up the mess. Draco got off the bed indignantly before pulling his clothes back on and getting back in bed. He turned away from Hydrus, ignoring everyone else. He wasn’t boneless like he would expect after a _good_ fuck, after he released and was pleasantly sated. He would have been fine, but he was livid that he was compared to his father. He was _never_ good enough for anybody is appeared and the one thing that nobody else could ever compare against his father, was just compared, by his enemy no less.  

    “Do any of you want to play with me?” Hydrus asked, sitting up on his knees. Crabbe and Goyle exchanged looks and Theo looked concerned for Draco, but Blaise wasn’t one to reject such a delicious offer and Hydrus felt no reason to not let Blaise have his own fun with him. Hydrus made a scene out of his specially chosen words just to make Draco feel even more inadequate. He expected to see some retaliation soon, and Draco was rather good, but how he thought himself better seemed to ruin it all and Hydrus also enjoyed pissing him off, he had realized how fun it was when he got angry and he knew all of Draco’s triggers. Blaise was also quite interesting.

    Harry didn’t get any sleep that night. Not with the other insatiable boys in his dorm. He walked out of the shower in the morning sore from all night’s activities. At breakfast, they all looked uncomfortable, but Hydrus didn’t. He didn’t seem bothered by anything, in fact, he seemed to be more relaxed than he had ever been before. Saturday went by smoothly for Hydrus and he went to sleep early, almost straight after dinner. Sunday was filled with furious writing as to complete his assignments for his classes. Not only was this the year for the OWLs but it was also the year that he had to completely upstage _everyone_ else. The year was already off to an amusing start.


	3. Perturbation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Enjoy :)

Perturbation

[pur-ter- **bey** -sh _uh_ n]

_Noun._

  1. Anxiety; mental uneasiness
  2. A deviation of a system, moving object or process from its regular or normal state of path caused by outside influence



***

    It was Halloween and Hydrus had been asked to go to Professor Snape’s office after the feast. His house of house apparently wished to speak with him and Hydrus couldn’t pass up an opportunity to see his dear Sevie again.

    Through the door that led to the classroom, Snape burst through, his robes as billowy as ever. Hydrus didn’t look up at him though, instead he looked up at his desk, waiting for his professor to take a seat. He remembered Severus’ words. He had told the Dark Lord and he had told Hydrus that Severus was a spy, and he knew that he was a spy for the wrong side, he just didn’t want to kill him and raise suspicion. Snape was kept out of the loop and very far from people who did know what was going on. His professor took a seat at his desk.

    “I hope you are acclimating to life here well,” Snape started, rearranging a pile of completely red-marked papers and storing the pile in a drawer. “But, there seems to be something wrong with your class. I wanted to ask you if you knew what was wrong so that it can be fixed. They are making you feel welcome, are they not?”

    “They are. They have all been very kind to me, well, except Draco. He doesn’t like me very much and I’m not sure what _I_ did wrong,” Hydrus uncrossed his legs and leaned forward on his elbows. He looked much more like a teenager like that then he had before. When Severus first entered the classroom he could have sworn that a snobbish adult was sitting in his office, if not a brunette Lucius Malfoy. They both held themselves with overwhelming confidence and they also both knew what to say to keep everyone (everyone that _he_ _wanted_ ) appeased. He had also split the 5th year class into two factions. Four were with him and the others were with Draco. Vincent, Gregory, Blaise and Pansy seemed to be enthralled or at least interested and supporting Hydrus in whatever he asked them to do. While Tracey Davis, Daphne Greengrass, Millicent Bulstrode and Theo were firmly with Draco, their Ice Prince since day one four years earlier and probably through the next three years as well.

    “I will speak with him if you think it necessary,” Snape finally answered. He had seemed lost in thought for a moment and then Hydrus caught him off guard.

    “Are you loyal to the Dark Lord, professor?”

    “Why is it important?” There was a silence. “I can and will advise you not to aspire to be a death eater and not to make a decision until you reach majority, it’s not a choice a child should make,” Snape was as callous as ever. Did he not take into account the students that would be marked under the decision of their families? Did he not realize the dark mark, the same mark he had taken, was an honour to wear. For a question so _intimate_ sprung so quickly, it was a good answer despite the little problems with it. He knew he was thinking more like the Dark Lord he loved and the Dark Lord he was rather than the fifth year Hogwarts student, but it was annoying to find those who do not trust the side that they had willingly chose.

    “It’s important because it’s an _honour_ to wear the mark. Do you no longer feel honourable, professor?” Snape’s eyes narrowed. Who was this child? If he had been living in France, surely he didn’t know too much about the Dark Lord. Voldemort was strictly reigning terror over the United Kingdom, he hadn’t expanded his armies to France yet. To be so valiant to tell a member of the staff what his opinions on the Dark Lord rather than keep it to himself and to his housemates, meant that he must have truly felt it was an ‘honour’. If he believed in the ‘cause’ so much then why transfer? Why wasn’t he in France trying to convert students in France. Gaining a worldwide following is any Dark Lord’s aspiration. For power over the entire world. The Dark Lord wanted power, he wouldn’t stop once he had conquered his home, no, he would try for greater things. He was a Slytherin afterall and a Slytherin’s downfall was their strong aspirations to be greater, better, than everyone else. It’s also what made them so dangerous. That and their ability to lie and manipulate.

    “I care about my students, Mr. Black, but my allegiance isn’t an appropriate topic and it is certainly not up for discussion. Understand?”

    “Yes, sir. Understood,” and Hydrus’ entire demeanor changed. His wand was in his hand and the doors were locked and silenced before Severus could move. Snape had his wand drawn but he daren’t lift it at a student despite the possibility of the students being dangerous. It was like a muggle teacher raising a gun toward a student with a gun pointed at the ground. Still dangerous, but not an immediate threat, but it could escalate. “ _Sssseverussss_ ,” Hydrus started and Snape froze, his mind reminded of the Dark Lord. This couldn’t possibly be him. The wards would have detected him, the headmaster would have known immediately but the hiss of his name was too similar to not be the Dark Lord himself. Nobody else had ever said his name in such a way.

    “Who are you?” Severus didn’t get up from his desk but Hydrus slowly stood up and walked to Severus’ desk. He leaned forward, his wand out and he bopped his professor’s nose with it.

    “I’m Hydrus Black. You are Severus Tobias Snape, and you have displeased me greatly. What can you offer to make it up to me?” His grin was feral if not completely insane. Snape hadn’t seen such a cruel smile since he had a terrible run-in with Bellatrix. It made sense, the boy was a Black after all and it made sense that if Bellatrix had a child, send him away where he wouldn’t be persecuted for his mother’s faults and if he had learned about her he would have known and probably loved the Dark Lord as much as she did or at least it was a working theory. Nobody really knew who Hydrus Black’s parents were except the headmaster. Perhaps Dumbledore would tell him if he worded it properly.

    “Put your wand down Mr. Black.”

    “No,” Hydrus did a similar thing to Severus as he had done at the carriages a month earlier and Severus really couldn’t move his body. Hydrus reached down and plucked the wand out of his professor’s hand as if he were doing something as simple as turning a page in a book.

    “What is this?”

    “Magic, sir,” Hydrus released Snape but he had his wand. He sat back in the chair he had first been sitting in. He ran his fingers over Professor Snape’s wand before he put it on his lap. He pointed his wand at his professor again. “I know that dark spells will be recognized by the wards, so I can’t use anything fun on you. Do you have something suitable to offer me to make me happy again or will I just have to play with you until I feel better?” Hydrus stopped Snape from speaking as soon as he opened his mouth by talking. “Don’t ask me anymore questions. You will answer me. Answering a question with another question is quite rude, Professor Snape. I would have expected more from you. You had a friendship with Lucius, did you not? You should have better manners that what you have shown me.”

    “You will put your wand down and you will explain yourself,” but Hydrus clicked his tongue. Severus felt at a loss. All the students were scared of him, nobody would dare act as Hydrus was acting towards him. He was intimidating but Hydrus didn’t seem to be affected. Surely by then he would have known how Severus was and should have been thoroughly nervous around him, but he wasn’t.

    “Or you’ll what?” Snape’s eyes narrowed, the boy was having too much fun with this and it was more than unacceptable behaviour towards anyone and even more so towards a professor.

    “Or I’ll tell my boyfriend and he’ll kill you, they both will if I ask them to,” Severus rolled his eyes and Hydrus frowned. “What are you thinking?”

    “You are threatening me with other students, Mr. Black, I’m actually insulted that you think that you can compare with my experience.”

    “Yes, _they_ ’ve told me about you and your _achievements_. Theirs are much better. They are both proficient in duelling, they are good with the dark arts… well, one is a master of the dark arts, I would definitely call him a master, and I’m insulted that you think I would lower myself to date the weak students of this shitty school, although they turned out fine and they both, unfortunately, were taught here,” they both glared at each other for a very long time. Severus finally looked away.

    “I will not lower myself to you, Mr. Black, now, you’re going to give me my wand back and we’re going to speak with the headmaster. This is very concerning, I’m sure you understand,” Severus raised a thick eyebrow and extended his arm, his hand open and waiting for his wand to be given back. Hydrus leaned forward, his wand returning to its holster while Severus’ wand was pressed between his thighs and stomach. He reached out and took his professor’s wrist before he flicked his tongue out to lick his fingers. He closed his eyes and sucked his index finger into his mouth. Where Hydrus’ hands connected with Severus’ skin, the sallow flesh started to decay and turn black with rot. Severus had no struggle of ripping his hand away from Hydrus as the boy was physically weaker than him. He rubbed his hand over where he had been decaying but he was normal. There was nothing wrong with him. It took Snape a moment before he connected the dots. There was only one kind of person who could cast such magic, a necromancer. Even more so to do all of it wandless and wordlessly there was only one necromancer he knew of in existence and he would definitely be strong enough for such magic.

    “Lord Asmodeus…” Severus whispered to himself, forgetting that the man was in his office with how quiet it had gotten. However he wasn’t startled when Hydrus spoke.

    “Yes, what about him?” Hydrus dragged the chair from its place on the floor closer to the desk and he rested on his elbows, leaning against the table.

    “He’s the strongest necromancer since… well the most powerful since a witch from Ancient Rome. ‘He works for the Dark Lord. He has many lovers, in fact that is his only downfall known, but he is and always has been beside the Dark Lord’s, who is his _weakness_ . He can resurrect an entire army and lay waste to one twice as large. Asmodeus is the Christian devil, just as he plays and torments Christian souls, Lord Asmodeus _plays_ with the souls of his prey, of his…’ That’s what I’ve been told by another death eater. Perhaps you’ve heard of him: Karkaroff.”

    “Oh yes, he was quite easy to _break_ , not satisfying at all. Would you be satisfying? You would be with your determination and willpower. You would fight against it but he would be able to break you,” Hydrus reached out and grabbed Severus’ wrist. This time Severus didn’t pull back. “Just as Asmodeus can take life,” Hydrus fed energy into Severus’ body. “He can give it back,” and that energy was pulled from Severus along with a good chunk of his lifespan, and while Snape didn’t notice the decrease of his years, Hydrus did and he knew he wouldn’t last another five years. “But only to those he deems worthy,” Hydrus stood up and put his professor’s wand in his hand before manually closing his professor’s fingers around his wand. “Are you worthy, professor? Telling people that the dark mark isn’t a choice to be made by children? That it is foolish, that it is no longer an honour to wear… I’m glad we have this talk, Professor, do you need me for anything else?”

    “You may go,” Severus pulled his arm towards him and when Hydrus left the office he put the chair back in its place before he went to his chambers. He was debating going to the Dark Lord and begging for forgiveness and punishment at anyone but Asmodeus’ hands. He had heard what happened to Karkaroff and he had a hard time believing that a fifteen year old had done such horrible things, but he had proof that the boy could wield the forces of life and death. Or he could go to the headmaster and beg for more protection and tell him of the danger that Hydrus posed to the other students. If he was being a complete Slytherin he would have weighed his options, but he didn’t. He quickly made his way to the floo and he floo called Dumbledore’s office.

   “What’s wrong Severus?” Dumbledore’s calm voice asked and Severus asked to go through. Dumbledore stepped back into his office. Severus walked into his office and took a seat on one of the chairs. “Would you like a lemon drop, my dear boy?”

    “Actually, yes,” Severus knew that they were soaked in calming draught, every shipment of lemondrops that came in, calming draught went missing. Dumbledore reached out and dropped a lemon drop into his palm. Severus put it on his tongue and waited for the soothing effects of the calming draught to start working. Until then, for about three minutes, he shook in his seat and continuously wiped his sweaty palms against his slacks.

    “Why are you so frightened?”

    “Do you know what I told you about Lord Asmodeus?” Dumbledore nodded and Severus felt the effects of the potion starting to work. “Well, I know who he is.”

    “Did you just come back from a meeting?” Dumbledore stood up and went to Severus. Did he need something for the Cruciatus curse. He usually came back bloody and without many functioning motor skills but he wasn’t that terrible but he looked perturbed and it was making the headmaster anxious to hear what information his spy had gathered. Severus hadn’t been so emotional since he had read the letters from the relatives of Harry Potter three, nearly four, years earlier.

    “No, I m--” Severus saw his hands grow black and skeletal as his skin dried out and his veins popped. He felt the pain of his skin crushing and the squirming of bugs under his skin. A second after Severus’ mind cleared, his hands returned to normal. “Did you see that, Albus?”

     “See what? Did something happen?”

    “You didn’t see it?” The calming draught had to be mostly worn off because there was no way that Severus was calm and he certainly didn’t feel any better. “My hands, they just… Asmodeus, the necromancer, he’s h--” his hands started to decay again but this time he felt the pain crawl up his arms and he saw his fingers falling away in little finger-shaped chunks of ash. He blinked and his skin started to crawl with a mix of anxiety and terror and then his hands were normal and the pain was gone. It wasn’t a horrible pain, definitely no cruciatus, but it wasn’t pleasant and felt similar to his limbs going numb and then the feeling of bugs wiggling under his skin as they ate away. It felt so real! He closed his eyes so he didn’t have to look at his hands. He had never had such a hard time controlling his emotions. He shouldn’t be having hallucinations, his occlumency was too good for that but it was as if the magic causing his hallucinations completely bypassed his occlumency barriers. “Asmodeus is Hydr--” Severus held his chest as he felt his heart constrict and stop beating. He wasn’t leaving his body but he felt his entire body shut down and paralyze him. His eyes filmed over until he was blind and his ears, there was something crawling in his ears or leaking out. He tried to lift his hand to feel what was in his ear but his arms wouldn’t moved. He really was paralyzed. Dumbledore’s touch brought him out of the trance and he jumped back.

    “Hydrus Black? That’s Lord Asmodeus?” Severus nodded but then he felt himself die again and he started crying, he couldn’t die. The pain was different, it was as if there was acid in his veins and then suddenly he couldn’t breath and finally he once again was frozen and felt things under his skin and over his skin and his body started to decay rapidly, at least he felt it happening as his eyes had once again gone blind. Dumbledore tried to get Severus to snap out of whatever he was trapped in and finally Severus’ body went lax and his eyes closed. Dumbledore took him back to the dungeons and put him in his bed before _rennerverate_ -ing him. Severus lunged forward and held Dumbledore’s arms and panted, his lungs burned as if he hadn’t used them for years. “Would you like for me to talk to him?”

    “No, he can’t know that you know. It’s an advantage we can use against him. Keep him over the winter break and find a reason to keep him over the summer holidays and he won’t be able to meet with the Dark Lord,” Severus slowly released Dumbledore, pulling away from the man shyly before resting back in his bed. He took deep breaths and they hurt but he couldn’t get enough air.

    “I understand, would you like for me to talk to him about your concerns earlier, about his interaction with the other Slytherins?” Severus just nodded, pulling out his wand and putting it on the bed beside him. “Sleep well Severus, and I will ask him for a meeting in the morning.”

 

    Severus wasn’t at the head table during breakfast and Hydrus pretended not to notice but it made him very suspicious. What made him even more concerned was when a prefect delivered a notice to visit the headmaster’s office before classes started. Hydrus pressed his cheek against Blaise’s cheek.

    “Tell me what happens in potions, I have a feeling I won’t make it to class today,” he then proceeded to press a kiss to Blaise’s earlobe and cheek before standing up and walking to the headmaster’s office (with the help of a prefect since he had never been to his office before). On the way to the headmaster’s office he saw Ron in the middle of a scuffle between Professor Umbridge and Professor McGonagall, he was annoyed that he couldn’t sit back and watch the argument but he was sure nothing too interesting would happen. He stood outside the gargoyle and looked at the note in his hand. _P.S. I am fond of sea-salt caramels_. “Sea salt caramels?” And the gargoyle opened up. He groaned. How stupid was that and the security was horrible and not only this, he felt foolish for not figuring it out sooner. He marched up the stairs and stopped at the door. He knocked.

    “Enter.”

    Hydrus pushed the door open and walked in. He stood behind a chair.

    “You may take a seat,” the headmaster said, motioning towards a seat. Hydrus took a seat on the offered chair and crossed his legs, dropping his school bag gently on the ground beside the chair he sat in. “Hello Mr. Black. I haven’t had a chance to personally meet you yet. I wish we could have met under better circumstances though, but first I want to ask how you are feeling around your classmates. Is everything alright? I see that you and Mr. Zabini have grown close,” Hydrus scoffed quietly, crossing his arms.   
    “I’m doing find with my classmates. I have been having an issue with Draco, Malfoy, but other than that, I am _very_ friendly with everyone who is friendly towards me. I treat the others the way I would like to be treated,” _sometimes, not often though_. “Has someone complained? I like to think I am a rather nice person, Headmaster. I will apologize if I have hurt someone though, that has never been my intention.”

    Albus raised a hand to calm the passionate young man down. “No, there’s no need to apologize, Mr. Black. I was simply curious, that’s all. Would you like to explain your relationship with Professor Snape. He has come to me with some concerning information about your social activities,” and Hydrus turned away. He uncrossed his legs and leaned forward. He scratched behind his ear before looking down at his feet.

    “I knew that it wasn’t right sir, but he’s so handsome. I know he doesn’t think so, but his hands are so nice, I could just melt anytime they touch me,” Albus paled. What was this boy talking about. If this was heading where Albus suspected, it would not be a very pleasant conversation, in fact it would probably become very awkward for at least one of them. “Last night Professor Snape called me into his office. He was concerned with how I have been doing. At Beauxbatons they didn’t have ‘houses’ so I’m not used to this, but I find that it is enjoyable. I have some friends in Slytherin. Nobody from the other houses really want to talk with me, but I don’t need many friends,” his eyes were dazzling, twinkling as brightly as Albus’ own eyes and this only put Albus on edge even more. This boy was either an expert liar or he was attempting to use legilimency on him. Of course, Albus felt a small push when their eyes connected but he was distracted by the forceful rejection when he tried to use legilimency. If Hydrus suspected his mind being penetrated, then he didn’t show it. He flushed though and turned his head to look at the candy on his desk. Albus’ eyes followed Hydrus’ and he grabbed the bowl of lemon drops and extended it out.

    “Would you like one?”

    “Yes, sir. Thank you,” Hydrus took the candy and popped it in his mouth. Their was a crunch as Hydrus chewed the hard candy. Albus flinched with every loud crunch and he was sure that Hydrus was actually trying to make the loudest crunch that he could. Hydrus finished ‘eating’ his candy before he continued on. “It was really my fault, I shouldn’t have said what I did. Would you think of me any less, headmaster, if I continue? Would you force me to leave?”

    “It depends on the severity of the action you did, dear boy. Please, just be honest and we will discuss the right action that needed to be taken then.”

    “Well, I took his hand and I got out of my chair. I wanted to show him so badly. I just wanted him to know! My father told me about professor Snape. They had gone to school together and I had met him quite a few times in the past, but I don’t think he remembers me very well. I was always too shy to be sociable around him. I’m sorry, I got off track. So, I went to his desk and I got on my knees, if I wasn’t such a whore none of this would have happened. I’m so sorry sir, it is all my fault. Please don’t make him leave, if anything you can say I pressured him into it, it’s not his fault that I’m demanding, I threatened him when he said it was wrong and that we should stop. I was in his lap and I could feel _him_ through his robes and I pulled my wand out and told him that I didn’t want to just leave him, that he made me feel so… well, he makes me feel good. He makes me happy, he always has, and it’s all my fault that he’s in trouble,” Hydrus started crying and he held his face in his hands. “I’m such an ugly cryer, please don’t look at me. I hate being ugly.”

    Albus suspected that sex was the route Hydrus would chose after his first few sentences. To say he was shocked about how convincing he could have been, would be an understatement. He was almost believable and if Albus hadn’t know and seen how terrified Severus had been the night before he may have believed Hydrus. He didn’t give any indication of thinking Hydrus was lying though. He pulled a handkerchief out of his robe and handed it to Hydrus who waved it away dismissively before wiping away awfully real tears and sniffling his nose. He wasn’t lying when he wasn’t a pretty cryer. Nobody could go as far as to say he was ugly though, but he looked very, truly and honestly, upset and apologetic.

    “Please, it’s all my fault,” Hydrus had a trail of spit connecting his lips and he made no effort to wipe it away. His eyes and cheeks were puffy and red and there was watery snot dripping from his nose. He used some spell to clear it away with a wand that looked rather evil in it’s own sense, but it made Albus curious. In an effort to distract the boy from his sadness, or faked sadness, and in an attempt to have the boy begin to trust him. If he was such an expert liar he must have come from a place that had made him into a good liar and manipulator. He must have been abused or something horrible if he was forced to the dark arts, and honestly such heavy and evil dark arts. “Don’t make him leave, I already feel horrible and if he lost his job, the one thing he seems passionate about, because I was being a slut then I wouldn’t be able to live with myself.”

    “That is a very serious accusation though, Mr. Black. I will ask the Board of Governors what we will do about such misdeeds. He is an adult, he should have the control and power to kindfully reject you. I don’t mean to insult you, but he is a very talented wizard and you aren’t even out of school yet, so I’m sure he could have easily rejected you without hurting too much. Perhaps he simply let his desires get ahold of him. It’s not unheard of, it is a shame though that we might lose a teacher because of his lack of judgement,” Hydrus wiped his eyes away now that his face wasn’t so red and sad, he licked his lips to rid of all the excess saliva.

    “I’m so sorry sir. I’m truly ashamed of myself. If you rather I were to leave, I’m sure I could learn on my own. I do believe that my marks are excellent and my father is a fountain of knowledge,” Hydrus put his wand back in his sleeve and flicked it so it would go back into the holster.

    “I’m curious, what kind of wand is that?”

    “Oh, I got it after my first wand broke. I believe the first was holly, or something. I only had it for a few months. The shop I bought this from said that it’s very rare. They dabble with different wand cores. This is elder with a sphinx hair core. May I see your wand?” Dumbledore nodded, finding it only fair and courteous to share his wand with the other. He held out his wand and Hydrus smiled, he reached out but pulled his hand back. “I’m sorry sir, I didn’t mean to touch it, I won’t. It just looks very… textured.”

    “I understand,” Dumbledore put his wand away. That was not acceptable. He had _the_ Elder Wand, the strongest wand in existence, yet Hydrus Black also had a wand made of elder with a _sphinx hair_? What kind of a magical core was that. There were no records of using such things in the entire world! Dumbledore kept his expression schooled. Mr. Black did not look to be fifteen, he looked to be younger in his body but older in his face which was clearly matured with high and prominent cheekbones where there would have normally been the last remainder of baby fat, but Hydrus was all angles and his body was quite possibly the most sinful thing that Dumbledore had seen. It looked as if he was sculpted, and on that that, he might have been. He could have a multitude of glamours to hide his real features, especially if he was Lord Asmodeus as Severus said. “Mr. Black, do you know what a glamour is?”

    “Yes. I don’t know how to apply very in depth ones though. I once saw my mother wear glamours to turn herself in a blonde woman with straight hair. I had pictures. My father showed them to me. She was really pretty but my father says that she isn’t so pretty now because of the conditions she lives in. I think she left us and he doesn’t want to hurt me. But I’m fifteen!.. Sorry, I can’t seem to stay focused today, sir. I apologize for my tendency to jump from subject to subject. I do know what a glamour is though. I’m actually wearing a few right now.”

    “Can I see under your glamours? Or are you not allowed to remove them?” Hydrus laughed.

    “They’re just covering some marks up. I think you are looking for a little bit more than what I am hiding, if you don’t trust me to show you everything, you may remove the glamours. They aren’t that strong, I just can’t let any of the girls see my hickeys, they might get embarrassed or even some of the boys. It’s really for their sake,” Hydrus waited for the magic to wash over him as the glamours were removed but he felt a sting and then the glamours were gone. It was actually very disappointing. Dumbledore frowned. It looked like the boy had been mauled by an angry vampire rather than some ‘love-struck’ classmates. Hydrus even tried to hide them with his hands as if he was slightly embarrassed. “Sir, you’re staring. That’s another reason why I wear them. I don’t like it when people stare,” which was a lie. Hydrus loved _all_ attention, even negative attention, but good attention was preferable if not the best. Dumbledore nodded and Hydrus put his glamours back on as quickly as he could. “Do you need me for anything else?”

    “I just want to ask you why you and Mr. Malfoy are having troubles. I understand that he is a little hard to get on with, but for your house I think you should try and make it work,” Albus smiled and Hydrus smiled back, it almost looked genuine but the amusement in his eyes gave him away. It made the headmaster very uncomfortable. No child should have such sadistic amusement in his eyes.

    “I’ll speak with him. I hope that we can resolve the conflict between us as well. May I have a note to take to class?” he cast a _tempus_ and sighed. “I should be in Potions class right now,” Hydrus gave a shy if not wavering smile. “If you don’t want me to be in his class, I can go to the library.”

    “No, as long as you both can act appropriately. That is unless you’re uncomfortable around him.”

    “Of course not! I love potions class, I wouldn’t want to miss it for anything,” with that exclamation, Dumbledore wrote a note on a scrap piece of parchment before dismissing Hydrus. He sat back in his desk and sighed. What was he going to do about this? Hydrus Black was definitely a problem but he had no proof as to him doing such awful magic and not only this but he now had a story of Severus sleeping with the boy to deal with. He was lying though, he didn’t _have_ to report anything, but if Hydrus actually did feel some form of guilt, perhaps the fear of ruining someone else’s life would set him straight. Even Dumbledore didn’t think that it mattered to Hydrus whether Severus was ‘let go’ or not, in fact, he had an idea that the boy really enjoyed tormenting others. With what poor Severus had been through the night, it was clear that he was sadistic but perhaps he could use that against him. How could he use that against him though? That was the problem. He couldn’t let Hydrus know that he knew of him and he had to inform the Order members as soon as possible.

    He also had to worry about Hydrus attacking their ‘Saviours,’ which even Dumbledore knew weren’t going to stand a chance against Voldemort and definitely not against a necromancer of any level (although they probably wouldn’t last five minutes if Lord Asmodeus was as powerful as he seemed or Severus said and their deaths would be drawn out and they would be tortured into nothingness). How were the Weasleys going to react to knowing that it’s believed that their is a necromancer inside of Hogwarts and how would the students react if someone somehow caught wind of the discovery. There was a part of Dumbledore that believed Hydrus and Draco were fighting because of the fact Hydrus was more powerful, but then it didn’t make sense because the Malfoys would be drawn to power not rejecting it, which led him to believe that somehow Hydrus had terribly wronged the Malfoy family, it made sense. What Lucius didn’t like, Draco didn’t like and it made sense. Lucius was a death eater and then he was out-ranked by some teenager, it made so much sense that Dumbledore had to stop his head from spinning. They had no chance and they were really only sitting ducks. Hogwarts would only stand strong for so long until even that would be destroyed and if there were teenagers and spies in their school, like he assume Hydrus was, then there was no stopping them from simply bringing the war straight into Hogwarts.

    Hydrus walked into potions class. He approached Professor Snape who didn’t even want to look at him. He accepted his note and waved him to an empty seat. Hydrus went to follow what everyone else was doing as if he hadn’t missed the first twenty minutes of class. He saw the stares between him and Professor Snape and he knew it was because of how scared the man looked. He actually looked terrified and that is exactly where Hydrus wanted him. He knew that Severus had gone to Dumbledore, but he also knew of the other option Severus could have taken and in his choice, the man had sealed his own fate. This fate was not a pretty one. Now his short life span made much more sense as they would likely take him for torturing and Hydrus would request to play with their victim first, and he almost always got what he wanted. Nobody would stand between him and brutality unless they wanted to bear his wrath.

    The rest of the day went smoothly and when Hydrus got back to the common room he sat down to write a letter to Lucius to give to the Dark Lord as Voldemort didn’t accept owls on the property. They were far too easy to intercept and therefore it was much safer to send the letter to someone who was permitted the discussed information and could give it to the Dark Lord himself. It was a bigger hassle, but the benefits were worth the hardship.

     _Dear Lucius,_

_Give this message to Tom for me._

_Hydrus_

 

_Dear Tom,_

_He knows. They both know. The potions master sealed his fate and the headmaster is trying to wiggle out of his prescribed destiny. I will see you over the winter hols, be ready for me._

_Hydrus_

 

    There was no need for formality with them, unless he was sending a report in, which he rarely did and he honestly didn’t mind the punishment. How could they truly _punish_ him in the non sexual sense of the word? They couldn’t, not when he could retaliate so viciously. Both his lovers were smart, they weren’t about to try and gain the upperhand or make themselves feel superior just so they could be brutally slain. No, his boys were much smarter than that. Sadly, Hydrus could not give Draco the same credit. He had been watching him ever since potions class and Hydrus was sure that Draco _thought_ he knew what was happening, but he probably didn’t actually _know_ . He still wasn’t old enough to play with the ‘big boys’ and therefore he was kept away from a lot. Hydrus had privileges Draco didn’t, but none of them were remotely pleasant besides maybe the indulgence of his sex life, but besides that, he was facing death and he was creating it or taking it and bending it to his will. Not a thing for children, no. Children were precious, Hydrus was never given the chance to be a child, he had been a weapon from day one. Dumbledore had sent him off to keep him malleable and Voldemort used his pliant readiness to turn him into a monster. And Hydrus _loved_ it. He _loved_ causing pain, and he _loved_ receiving pain and he just enjoyed thrills. Nothing was more relieving than being on the receiving end of horrific wickedness or the one to cause people to eat themselves to escape his hands. It was ecstasy to have such power just waiting to be used and he was treated properly for a wizard of his power and knowledge, he was treated like the Dark Lord by those who were beneath him and he was treated like a treasure by the Dark Lord. He was feared, he was praised, he was a _god_ amongst mortals.

    That night Hydrus spread out on the couch in the common room with a book on his chest as he read. It was a book in parseltongue so he didn’t fear anyone reading it, but he didn’t expect the trouble reading such texts would cause. Of course the offender was none other than Hydrus’ rival, Draco Malfoy. Draco ripped the book from Hydrus’ hands and tried to read it.

    “Give that back, Malfoy,” Hydrus sung in a soft, childlike tone that only added to the tension and terror building in the room. Students, who had gone out of their way to avoid and give Hydrus the space he wanted, now stared at the boy who dared to interrupt their new King, the real King of Slytherin. The _heir_ they all thought; it was cute how ignorant they all were.

    “Or what? Going to cry to _my_ father?” Draco flipped through the pages and glared down at the squiggly lines that he couldn’t make out.

    “I may, and he’ll make me _feel all better_ ,” Hydrus stood up and took his book back before walking back towards their dorm. Hydrus turned moved to the side as a red curse was shot out of Draco’s wand. “What little Dragon, are you angry that I took him away from you? Are you sad that _I’m_ better than _you_? Don’t embarrass yourself, and shoot something at me again and you will deeply regret your stupidity,” Hydrus turned back around and before Draco had the chance to fire off another spell Hydrus turned around and shot him with a stunner. It smashed into Draco’s chest and he flew backwards. Hydrus took the book to his room and put it in his trunk before walking back out into the common area. Some students were too interested to leave despite their nervousness, and others had already left as a display of self-preservation. How precious, thinking that a few walls and simple spells could really stop him. Hydrus walked over Draco’s prone body and got down on his knees over him before lifting him up by the collar of his shirt. “Tracey Davis, if you take one more step towards me I will not be kind enough to only stun you,” Tracey stopped moving and stopped. Hydrus shook his head. Draco’s lackeys were very foolish, it was almost sad how they idolized him; Draco was clearly the wrong idol.

    Like good bodyguards, Crabbe and Goyle made a wall shielding Hydrus’ back from immediate fire, but that wouldn’t stop anyone from taking down his hunks of muscle, no he needed a few more wand savvy followers and that’s when he looked up to Pansy and Blaise who both stood, frozen at the display. Both of them nodded at his silent commands and stood on either side of the scene, their wands drawn and ready to stop anyone who wanted to _try_ and be _brave_ , but Hydrus didn’t think he would face many of those kinds of people with this crowd. No, most of the students still in the common area had gotten up so they could get a better view of what was going to happen. Hydrus cast _finite_ over Draco’s body and he reached up to grab onto Hydrus’ hands but when Hydrus let go of him and he remained bent as if he was still being held, against all laws of nature and without the use of his muscles, he dropped his hands. Hydrus grabbed his wand and placed the tip under Draco’s jaw, pressing it into the soft flesh there. Hydrus could just picture shoving his wand inside of Draco and running it through his skull. That would be a magnificent sight.

    “Little Malfoy,” Hydrus started. “Still angry about what I said after I let you fuck me? Is that why you’re so bitter? Or are you just so insecure about yourself that you had to come and bother _me_?” Draco didn’t answer. “Not going to talk? Your pretty little mouth was made for moving though, right? That’s why you have so many bootlickers ready at your heels. Little Tracey Davis and Theodore Nott. You gonna call them for backup? Is nobody here to save you now? How does it feel to be alone and knowing you are going to be suffering for your own misdeeds? Your actions caused this and I’m simply repaying you the favor of your lovely treatment. Shall I do to you what I did to Snape?” Draco started screaming and trying to breathe and his body felt numb, then there was a sharpness that stabbed into his skull and he could feel blood flowing out of his wround. He could feel his body dying and when his body died he could feel it as it rotted away as if he was being forced to decompose twenty times quicker than what was natural. He struggled but his body wouldn’t move and then it was over. Draco reached up and felt his head. There was no hole in his skull, he was alive. He could feel himself inhaling and exhaling but he didn’t realize he was panting in an attempt to make up for lost air. Similar to what had happened to Severus. “How did that feel? Does death feel good, little Malfoy? I’m sure you wouldn’t mind feeling it again, just to remind you who’s in control here. Should I make you endure it again. This time I will think of a more creative way to kill you. Perhaps I will chop you up into tiny pieces and then throw all those pieces into a meatgrinder and wait for your mushy remains to be eaten up by rabid wolves. Would you like that?”

    “N-no, don’t do it again, please!” Draco reached up to touch Hydrus’ wrist but Hydrus slapped his hands away.

    “Don’t _touch me_ , you don’t deserve to touch _me_. Understood?” Draco nodded and when he fell back, the magic that Hydrus was putting out releasing its grip on his enemy, against the floor and Hydrus stood up. He squeezed between Crabbe and Goyle and nodded for them to follow him. Blaise and Pansy left with Hydrus’ two goons and they moved to their own little pocket near the window that led out into the Black Lake. Hydrus continued on as if nothing had happened but everyone had seen it and they all knew now, that whatever or whoever Hydrus was, he was dangerous and to keep themselves safe, they needed to either find a way to get on his good side or find someone stronger to protect them.

    That night, Draco slipped into bed and watched, feeling filthy for enjoying it so much, as Hydrus was taken by Blaise. A person who had once been one of Draco’s best ‘friends’. As Hydrus’ bed trembled with the rough force of Blaise pounding into Hydrus, he let out the most sinful moans. Blaise grunted and groaned, which wasn’t like Blaise at all, but all of them had changed. No one was as they were before Hydrus arrived, even Draco was changed, he had been since Harry Potter was introduced by his father and further when Lucius had taken Hydrus to bed alongside the Dark Lord. As Hydrus drooled against the pillow his face was pressed against, his glassy eyes looked over to see Draco staring at him and he offered a grin to the tamed blond boy who looked at him with eyes reminiscent of his own: filled with heated desire. Except there was something about Draco that told Hydrus that he was terrified of him, absolutely daunted by what he had the capability to do but there was something in the little Malfoy’s body that told Hydrus that he liked that feeling, just a little bit. He needed to be put in his place and Hydrus was almost regretting the fact he hadn’t done it sooner. Blaise draped his body over his back and spilled inside of him before pulling out and away from him. Blaise collapsed beside Hydrus and Hydrus reached down to finish himself off. He was disappointed that none of these boys wanted to finish him. They took their own pleasure and left him to finish himself. Such teases, getting him all hot and almost to the point of release before they came and left him to take care of it. He didn’t want _them_ to get off on him, he wanted them to make _him_ feel good. It was horribly irritating, but he usually had higher quality lovers.

    Hydrus stretched out and pushed Blaise off of his bed. If he couldn’t even lend a man a hand, and not draw back before he was finished, then he could sleep in his own damn bed. Hydrus felt his thighs get even stickier as come dribbled from his entrance. He pulled the blankets over him after he came against his stomach. He didn’t want to wake up covered in dry spunk but his wand was all the way on the bedside table. He reached out and cast a _scourgify_ before setting his wand down and turning on his side to look at Draco who had closed his eyes and pretended to be asleep.

    “Goodnight Draco,” Hydrus called out.

    “Goodnight,” he replied before rolling over to face away from Hydrus. Maybe he didn’t mind coming to Hogwarts after all. He got sex when he wanted, he got to intimidate underlings and he got a buffet of food for all three meals, day after day. It was decent.


	4. Saccharine

Saccharine

[ **sak** -er-in, - _uh_ -reen, - _uh_ -rahyn]

_Adjective._

  1. Of the nature of or resembling that of sugar
  2. Containing or yielding sugar
  3. Very sweet to the taste; sugary
  4. Cloying agreeable or ingratiating
  5. Exaggeratedly sweet or sentimental



***

    From what Hydrus heard the Weasel and Longbottom say, Umbridge has started to make rounds to all the classes to examine them, mostly she examined the professors, and she clearly didn’t like Professor Trelawney, which Hydrus couldn’t agree more with, because he also had a dislike for her and he didn’t even take her class. She was the bitch who had ruined his life as Harry Potter, and although he wouldn’t give up what he had then, now that he was a Dark Lord, he still didn’t like her for giving the prophecy that ruined his family and took his chance for normality away from him. Then she had the gall to somehow have a second prophecy saying he was dead and that the Weasel and Longbottom were somehow destined to defeat the Dark Lord. First, they only mentioned one Dark Lord, there had only been one known Dark Lord at the time of the prophecy, and the only witness to the prophecy was Albus Dumbledore. The meddling old fool was playing with the wrong destinies if he wanted was to rule over the wizarding world like some sovereign, or if the old man had his wishes, he would probably be worshipped like a god. It was pathetic and he wasn’t even close enough to knowing about the divine wisdom of gods to even consider the idea of wanting to be like them.

     Finally Snape snapped and shouted at the Weasel and Longbottom for their rudeness for whispering during class. Just as he settled down, the door opened up and, clad in pink, Professor Umbridge walked into the class ready to observe the fifth year Gryffindor/Slytherin potions class. If Severus thought he was already having a bad day, he wasn’t prepared to deal with the toad, then he had been mistaken because it clearly could get worse. Next he’s had the Dark Lord trying to kill him on sight and that would just be the end of it and he would probably just off himself. The thought sounded so appealing to him at the moment. Just dying, being reunited with someone he loved, that would be nice. Much nicer than this version of his life.

    As Professor Umbridge, who was comically shorter than their dour, potions professor, questioned him, Severus’ eyes made contact with the idiots in his class who thought that because he was being inspected, they were allowed to get away with misbehaviour. He shot them the dirtiest glares yet they still talked, as if they were invincible. After class he would be ruining those brats, he swore it. Professor Umbridge then, on her way out, stopped to speak with Hydrus.

    “Hello Mr. Black, how are you? Are you learning a lot from this class?”

    “Well, Professor, you know how strict my father is. I’ve already learned this material, but for something this difficult, Professor Snape is doing a brilliant job at explaining it. Will we be having Defense class today or are you going to be continuing during the period with your inspections?”

    “That’s good to hear,” she looked up at Severus who was glaring at Hydrus. What was the boy planning, why was he saying good things about his class? What was his goal? What would he gain from giving a good (better than any of the other students would have given) review of his class to the pink wench? “We will be having class, Mr. Black and I expect to see you there and see you doing your best as is expected of you. I will be leaving now, but,” she lowered her voice, “if he does anything upsetting please let me know.”

    “I will, professor,” she smiled at him and her heels click-clacked all the way out of the classroom and down the hallway. Hydrus looked up at Severus and raised an eyebrow. This caused Snape to want to growl in frustration and throw something but he considered himself good at self control and he had already let it slip earlier, he wouldn’t allow Hydrus, a Black of all people, to break him again. Severus looked away from his student first and he stalked over to his desk to fiddle with some paperwork while the class did their assignment in silence as Snape wouldn’t allow socialization during his class, academic or otherwise.

    Once again the Weasel and his band of friends got detention and the Gryffindors groaned at having to sit with Professor Umbridge during their free hours after classes. Weasley was the most vocal about it, cursing how unfair everyone is and how he should be treated better if he was going to save the entire wizarding world. They were walking through the halls and Hydrus heard the Weasel complaining once again.

    “Why should I save them when all they do to me is give me detention?” He threw his hands up dramatically and Hydrus wanted to spit on him. How could he say that. Originally he wanted Harry to give his life up for him, they all wanted Harry Potter to die to protect them without ever helping him and he thought he had a _right_ to complain. Hydrus got a look that Draco was almost scared to recognize but he made his way over to the Weasel and his goons and Draco went to grab Hydrus’ arm.

    “Let me go, if you try to stop me again we will have a repeat of the other day and I know you didn’t enjoy that very much,” Hydrus had stopped to warn Draco before he continued on towards the group of Gryffindors, who had all gathered around their vocal saviour while Neville looked terrified and was hiding away from the attention. That would have been Harry, no, he was Hydrus now. That would have been _Hydrus_ if he hadn’t escaped, if he had let everyone mould him into what they expected him to be and not who he wanted to be. He had freedom and choices with the Dark Lord and now he could squash them all like ants if he so pleased. Hydrus pushed his way through the Gryffindors rudely until he stood close to the lamenting Weasel.

    “... I don’t understand why they think we deserve to be treated like this, we are the saviours of the wizarding world, we belong in advanced classes with only the best students so we can be ready to fight You-Know-Who--”

    “You mean Voldemort?” The eyes focused on Hydrus, the boy who had spoken. “Some saviour you are if you can’t even say his name. Vol-de-mort, it’s not very hard, it’s French but you don’t need an accent to say it. Do any of you even remembered Harry Potter? Have you all forgotten that _he_ was the one who defeated Voldemort and _he_ was the one who was bound to save the wizarding world but you all threw him away! He was abandoned by all of you! You, the people who wanted him to defend you. You don’t deserve his safety. None of you even knew him. Not even you Weasel, you didn’t know what he was truly like and you neither you filthy mudblood. Go back to the muggles who hate us, go back to your loving families while Harry Potter was being starved and treated like a house elf, no, he was treated worse than a house elf, at least they get to eat and have clothes that fit them. So you can all pretend that these two _morons_ are you precious saviours but without Harry Potter you are all going to die unless you chose the _right_ side, and those of you who aren’t smart enough to do so should be exterminated anyway so that we don’t have your disgusting and stupid blood running through the next generation. Select breeding and survival of the fittest,” Hydrus turned around, his eye twitched and he waited for someone to try and counter his argument but everyone was far too stunned to do anything. Hydrus was halfway down the corridor when the Weasel started to shout at him.

    “What do you mean? You didn’t even know Harry bloody Potter! We were his friends, we cared about him and you’re just a slimy Slytherin death eater, what do you know anyway?” Hydrus just continued down the hallway as if he didn’t hear the shouting and he disappeared within the sea of other children as they all rushed around in the crowded main hallway. Hydrus ran into the dungeons and slid into an alcove where he sunk down to his knees. He put his head on his kneecaps and held his hands over his head as he tried to cry as quietly as he had ever cried in his entire life. It would not be good to have someone see him as vulnerable or even know of his weaknesses which could be found out easily if they followed the trail right back to the stupid Gryffindors conglomerated together in the main hallway, right off the Great Hall.

    “Harry,” It was Draco and Hydrus leaned away from him.

    “I don’t know who you’re talking about. Harry’s dead,” Draco got down on his knees and reached a hand out for Hydrus to take. “Leave me alone… if you want to help me you can make sure that nobody else sees me like this.”

    Draco stood next to Hydrus, watching for others and blocking Hydrus from the curious stares of the passing Slytherins. Finally Hydrus stood up and he grabbed his bag, slinging it over his shoulder before he stood behind Draco. Draco turned around to face Hydrus who looked horrible. His face was puffy and red, just like his bloodshot eyes. There were glistening trails from his tears, running down his cheeks, chin and nose.

    “Thanks,” Hydrus looked down at his feet and Draco hadn’t remembered seeing Hydrus like this since he was still Harry. What happened that hurt him so horribly? Hydrus wanted comfort, but he didn’t want school boys to hold him, he wanted Voldemort to hold him, he wanted to curl up and rest his head on his knee so he could card his fingers through his hair until he took him to bed where he would make love to him before holding him. He could get this with very few people and like most things he only trusted Lucius, the death eater’s lieutenant (although never spoken, it was true) and Voldemort’s original second in command, before Hydrus came along, and Voldemort. He didn’t trust anyone else explicitly enough to be able to show true (his moments of) weakness, and he needed to show weakness, he needed to release his anger and sadness and everything that he didn’t want to be bothered with anymore. Draco would be the closest thing to what he could get but he wasn’t about to go and cuddle up in his enemy’s arms. They weren’t enemy’s anymore but the previous day they had been and that isn’t enough time to truly gain someone’s unwavering allegiance. Hydrus pushed past Draco and continued back down to the common room. He got in the door when he was given a message from a prefect. He was wanted in the headmaster’s office. He didn’t want to go but he dropped his things off and headed up to the tower that housed his office.

    “Fudge flies,” with that ridiculous password, the gargoyle twisted open and he shuffled up the stairs, dragging himself into the hall and knocking on his door.  
    “Enter.”

   Hydrus walked into the room and the golden trio, the _fake_ golden trio, were huddled around one chair. Hydrus sat down in his chair and sat up. His face was probably still stained with tears but he had to look strong for this, he couldn’t let his enemy see weakness, unless that is what he wanted. To be underestimated but the best tactic was intimidation, at least that’s how he felt about it.  
    “I heard that you have very strong opinions regarding Harry Potter. It’s alright to cry my dear boy, nobody will think any less of you if you do. Did you perhaps know Harry?” Hydrus wanted to yell at him to not call him by his name. Nobody had that privilege, nobody had the right to call him by his name as if they knew him. Nobody knew him, and if they did then they didn’t care and that made them even worse. Dumbledore had rejected him, he had told him to stop lying! He hadn’t been lying and now he wants to pretend that he was friends with him after all the shit he pulled? There was anger on Hydrus’ face and he looked as if he was struggling with a deep personal problem. Weasley finally snorted and sat down on the chair next to Hydrus.

    “He’s just jealous that we have the attention. I’m sure he’s not used to not being the ‘best’ one in school but Hermione’s marks are better, we’re all just better wizards than him--”

    “Mr Weasley, I advise that you don’t continue that thought.”

    “Why? What’s he gonna do? He probably didn’t even go to school. He’s a Slytherin, he was probably forced to come here by his parents. He’s not sociable, maybe they wanted to be rid of him, I would if he was my child. Look at him, he’s pathetic and I have heard rumors that he’ll have his way or let anyone have their way with him. Are you upset that someone started telling everyone that you’re a slut?” Ronald crossed his arms as Hydrus kept his head down. They were supposed to be his friends and they never cared about him. How could he be so mean, he would have never been mean to him had he still been Harry Potter. He was nice on the train, was that all fake? Was nothing real? Is this who Ron really was. Hydrus felt tears fall from his eyes and he reached up to wipe them away before they could get very far. His hair thankfully shielded his face from sight but it was obvious that he was crying.

    “Mr. Weasley, that was unacceptable behaviour, you will be serving detention with Professor Snape this weekend, after lunch. Both days,” how cute, he would give him two days worth of detention. They always had been able to get away with things they shouldn’t have been able to get away with. Hermione had set Professor Snape’s robes on fire which should have gotten them in a lot of trouble but it was almost as if nobody tried to figure out who set their professor on fire, as if it was just dropped and marked as unimportant.

    “I’m not finished, headmaster. I think that Hydrus, here, is insecure about himself and therefore he has tried to make up friends that he doesn’t have because he doesn’t have any friends. Isn’t that right, Black? Hmm? Where are those friends of yours now? Not here because they aren’t really your friends.”

    “I don’t need friends,” Hydrus whispered. “I don’t need anybody. I’ve never needed anybody. I was forced to provide for myself when I was very young, _I don’t_ need _anybody_.”

    “Mr. Black, please calm down. I’m sure that we can clear up this misconceptions about you and then we will all agree to leave each other alone. It was just a concern due to your tone of familiarity with Harry--”

    “Don’t call him that! You have no right to call him that! You knew about his family and you left him there. He tried to get help and you rejected him!” Hydrus didn’t know how to react, he had buried this part of himself away during years of meditation, he forced everything he didn’t like about himself and placed it in a special box for all these silly feelings and he locked it with tons of different locks, even more than the Dursleys had put on his door when he finally did get a room after he returned from first year. He had Lucius, he loved Lucius, he had saved him, he had picked him up and carried him away from them and he loved Tom, the man who taught him near everything that he knows, the man who spoiled him with gifts but never too many as to keep him somewhat humble and then he had showed him how nice people could feel when they loved somebody and he was sure that he loved him. He had to love them. They were the only people who had ever cared about him. Maybe Mrs. Malfoy as well, but he didn’t want to have sex with her because she wasn’t his type (and by that he didn’t mean female, he meant a mother. He didn’t want to sleep with a woman with children, especially when he was the age of her son. It was different when it was Lucius, he didn’t know how but it was just different). Ron stopped and looked to Dumbledore and then he drew his wand and aimed it at Hydrus.

    “How dare you say something like that, you didn’t even know him you greasy Slytherin!”

    “The hat wanted him in Slytherin actually. He told me in his letters. I had to burn them when my father took me here because he wanted to keep me safe, but I miss him sometimes, but I grew to hate him because he left me and he made me weak and I am not weak. Not like he was,” Hydrus drew his wand and Ron hit him in an attempt to disarm him but Hydrus petrified him. Dumbledore stood up and tried to de-escalate the fight but Hydrus was already inside Ron’s mind. He picked at the frayed edges around his problems and ripped them open. Ron let out a scream as he felt his memories flooding his mind as well as the tearing into his mind. This wasn’t a form of legilimency. This was him inducing pain by mentally attacking him, he didn’t use his energy for this. He drew the energy in from around him. No human core had enough power to do this sort of magic without help and he called on the crackling static around his body and he brought on his worst dreams, his horrible memories, everything that would terrify him and hurt him to relive, things that he tried to forget but couldn’t, things that made him guilty of ashamed. He was going to _break_ Ron. Dumbledore touched his shoulder and he turned to look at him and Hydrus ripped into his mind and it made Dumbledore double over, holding his head. Hydrus pulled back, his momentarily blind eyes focusing back in on his surroundings. “I’m sorry,” he tried but Ron was crying and holding his head on the floor, screaming in pain and choking on sobs. Dumbledore had to try and mend what was just ripped but he had to get Ron somewhere safe. Hydrus was very much a threat to everyone at the school and the sooner he could prove that he was dangerous the easier it would be for him to get rid of him, possibly by extermination so he couldn’t come back and hurt them later.

     “Ms Granger, Mr. Longbottom, will you carry Ron to the infirmary, I need to speak with Mr. Black alone,” Hermione and Neville snapped out of it and helped Ron to his feet, each wrapping one of his arms around their shoulders and then they carted him off, down the steep and narrow steps as carefully as possible before they made a break for the infirmary. Hydrus sat down in his seat and Dumbledore went back and sat down in his chair. “I don’t think I need to tell you that what you did is enough cause for expulsion and if I dare say, a sentence in Azkaban.”

    “What do you mean? I didn’t do anything, I didn’t use my wand, you can check it, the last spell I used was _petrificus totalus_ . That wouldn’t have caused his _mental breakdown_ . Did something happen to you, sir? I hope you don’t end up like Ron, you wouldn’t be _suitable_ to stay in your position if that were to happen.”

    “Why are you like this? Why do you want to hurt people?”

    “I didn’t hurt anybody. It wasn’t me. I don’t know what happened, but it was clear that Ronald wasn’t in his right mind and I think perhaps all of this ‘saviour’ business has damaged him greatly. You would do well to actually protect your allies, not like they are even near strong enough to stand a chance, but I wouldn’t know. I’m only fifteen and I’ve just learned about the truth behind the war. Of course I heard from my father about things my mother did, but I never knew that the things that _You-Know-Who_ did were so terrible. I wouldn’t want to see any of your people _get hurt_ . _Nobody would want something like that to happen_ ,” Hydrus stared at Dumbledore who looked very angry, livid actually. His eyebrows were furrowing and therefore he had deep wrinkles littering his forehead and long lines covered messily by his slightly ruined beard, ruined due to the stress and panic of the night’s events. This boy wasn’t human. He was a monster. Evil. Pure evil. Dumbledore knew he was still pure, still innocent. Fawkes still stayed with him and when Hydrus approached he would fly to the ceiling and stay there, not coming down until Hydrus had left. Hydrus wasn’t leaving anytime soon however because Albus was determined to get answers. He had half a mind to ask Severus for veritaserum.

    “You’re lying. Tell the truth and we can discuss what happens next.”

    “I didn’t hurt anybody. Why would I want to hurt Ronald Weasley? Because he called me a slut? Yeah, I know, I love it. Because he accused me of not having friends? What Slytherin has friends? We have acquaintances, people who are more useful and people who are less useful to our ambitions. We don’t have _friends_. Friends are potential weaknesses.”

    “What about Harry Potter?”

    “What about him, I knew him when I was younger then I heard he died. I had to get rid of all evidence that I knew him because my father is with _You-Know-Who_ ,” he rolled his eyes internally at how ridiculous it was that people didn’t say his name. “And my father didn’t want me to be hurt because of my relationship with the Boy-Who-Lived. I guess none of that matters now because he wasn’t that important after all. He was replaced with a year or two of disappearing by his _friend_ Ronald Weasley and his dorm mate Neville Longbottom. He told me he had fun in Gryffindor, he also told me that you let him be abused and you rejected his cry for help and when he begged me to save him I couldn’t because of my father and his past. I couldn’t save the only person that I truly knew because of this silly war and because you are a cruel and _evil_ man.”

    Dumbledore frowned. He was none of those things. He was doing what was in his best interest, that should have been valued to Hydrus who understands self interest better than most. He also did it to win the war, Harry Potter was the only one strong enough to defeat the Dark Lord. He was growing weak, Dumbledore, and tired in his old age while Voldemort only grew stronger in his near seventy years of existence. How could this boy, who was clearly evil, clearly the Lord Asmodeus, clearly a dark wizard, and clearly powerful, not understand the reasons behind his choices. Perhaps his affections for Harry Potter ran too deep or perhaps there was a more significant relationship between them. He didn’t have time to figure that out though, not when he had to try and get Hydrus to admit that he had used dark magic on a student. He needed to get the school free of this boy before he became a greater threat, before he truly hurt someone, someone valuable, like he hurt Severus.

    “I see… and you say you didn’t use magic on Mr Weasley?”  
    “No sir. Why would I waste my energy on _him_? How is he important?”

    “He’s important because the prophecy--”

    “Fake!” Hydrus stood up. “If you don’t wish to talk to me about anything important I think I will take my leave.”

    “You will be expelled for your misbehaviours Mr. Black,” Dumbledore said as Hydrus approached the door leading out into the hall and down the stairs.

    “What misbehaviours professor? I haven’t done anything wrong besides get cross with you. I’m sorry for that, it’s not my place to get angry at a professor, even less towards the headmaster of such a _fine_ institution. Tell the Board of Governors ‘hi’ for me and let them decide my fate just like you did when you didn’t tell them about the report of sexual misconduct with a minor with your potions professor,” the door wouldn’t open for Hydrus and he sent a jolt of energy into the door and it still wouldn’t budge. He turned around and sat back down in the chair he had been sitting in. “You don’t want me to leave. Please, make whatever you wish to speak with me about, worthy of my time. I have assignments that need to be done.”

    Hydrus finally opened the door, as the lock unlocked with a click, and left. Albus called Severus to his office through the floo and the black-clad man was pacing in his office before Albus even had time to offer a candy to him.

    “He can’t only be fifteen. He’s _too_ _different_. He must be at least of majority,” Severus finally said, his thumb against his lips and he chewed the ripped up nail. He sat down at Albus’ calm insistence. Albus needed Severus now more than ever. He needed someone who was in the Ranks so he could bring him back information. In fact, it was good that Severus had been a death eater because without that, they wouldn’t have known of Lord Asmodeus as he had been kept a secret. He had supposedly never even been on a public raid yet and therefore not introduced as an enemy. Knowing that there was such a person under Voldemort gave them an advantage as they could surely find some way to counter attack a necromancer. There had to be a counter attack for everything, the Dark Arts were no different. Fire burned the inferi, and they were sensitive to light, zombies were similar and just needed to be beheaded which a simple _diffindo_ could do, but what of the other necromantic arts. Nobody, unless they were a necromancer themselves, had ever shared the information with other non-necromancers and only those with the pre-disposition for such magicks could access their books and in turn become masters of the _art_.

    Severus stopped pacing before he continued his observations, “Today, something happened and Draco returned to the common room and his friends, the ones who had joined with Mr. Black, were speaking with him again. He looked scared, and I’m sure that Black has done something to Draco,” he put his hands on his head. “I’ve failed my godson and now there are children just waiting to be hurt by him and we have no way to stop it.”

    “Severus, did you have intercourse with Mr. Black?”

    “What? No. Of course not!” Severus’ head fell back and his eyes closed. He looked so much sicker than he normally did. His eyes were nearly resembling a raccoon by how they were surrounded by rings of darkness or ugly purpleness that looked almost like bruises and his hair was uncommonly greasy, perhaps Severus had truly been neglecting his hygiene after his shock rather than simply coating his hair in protective oils for potion making. He looked horrible and his body relaxed for the first time since Hydrus’ mental assault. What had Severus confused was the lie that Black would sleep with him? _Him_ , of all people he could have chosen. It was all because of his misplaced loyalty when he was only Hydrus’ age. He was only fifteen when he joined the Dark Lord and he was only twenty when he told the Dark Lord of the prophecy that resulted in Lily’s death, and then years later, almost four full years prior to the present, he had failed to protect Lily’s son. He rightfully deserved all the torture he was experiencing, at least he believed it was simply payment for his misdeeds, but there was another part of him that thought that even he, despite being a horrible, mean and angry man, didn’t deserve such abuse. It wounded his pride that he was scared into docile submission by someone half his age and even more so because of how powerful the youngling was when he didn’t even have such prowess. He had told him about ‘boyfriends’ so he was referring to the Dark Lord, because it was clear that Lord Asmodeus was very much the Dark Lord’s pet if not somehow the other way around, but who was the other soul unfortunate enough to be claimed as such an evil being? This was important because they could use the other lover, who is likely the weaker link, against him. Take him as leverage.

    He was almost embarrassed to think about stealing away a fifteen year old’s lover in an attempt to keep him controlled but then was Hydrus even able to feel human feelings? He seemed sociopathic because there couldn’t possibly any feeling behind whatever he had with the Dark Lord because Voldemort did not _feel_ , he was as cold and ruthless as they come. So if that’s the case, then even trying to keep someone hostage, neither Albus and Severus were above kidnapping in order to keep themselves safe, how would they know that Black had enough feeling to save him? They didn’t, and they could harm an innocent person, which Severus doubted, but Hydrus was very charming and could easily have corrupted a perfectly innocent wizard. Based on muggle folklore, Asmodeus is one of the Kings of Hell and the King of Demons. He is a physical manifestation of the sinful desires of sexual natures and how he corrupts the pure through their darkest and most heinous pleasures and longings. The name made complete sense and it almost made Severus curious as to why a wizard would want anything to do with muggle folklore or how he knew it unless he somehow grew up or expressed a desire to learn more about muggle religions and mythology. The interest and curiosity didn’t stretch far enough for Severus to actually take action and learn why the name could be important.

    “I knew that you didn’t but Mr. Black claimed that you and him had intercourse and although I highly doubted it, it wouldn’t shock me if somehow he managed to find a way to manipulate you into doing something so foolish,” Albus had insulted Severus but both men were too worried and tired to bicker over such a simple offense. “But perhaps I’m giving him more credit than he deserves. He’s only a child, he cannot truly be _that_ dangerous,” Severus didn’t bother to correct him because hopefully Albus would be hurt as he had been and the old man can figure out for himself just how dangerous Black was. Albus wasn’t taking into consideration what excruciating pain he had felt in his head and what he had witnessed happen to the youngest Weasley male, but he still believed that although Hydrus was ‘dangerous’ he would get cocky in his power and then underestimate them and then they would be able to take him down by overwhelming them. Dumbledore, somewhere in his logical mind, was thinking about how ridiculous and faulty that plan was and that he needed a better plan if he truly wanted to win because the boy was powerful, too powerful to be left alive no matter what side he had chosen but definitely not now, but the other side was celebrating because his idea was so perfect. So ‘perfect’ indeed.


	5. Suzerain/Meritorious

Suzerain

[ **soo** -z _uh_ -rin, -reyn]

_Noun._

    1. A sovereign or state exercising political control over an independent state
    2. _( _History/historical_ ) a feudal overlord_



 

_Adjective._

  1. Characteristic of or being a suzerain



***

Meritorious

[mer-i- **tawr** -ee- _uh_ s, - **tohr** -]

_Adjective._

  1. Deserving praise, reward, esteem, etc.; praiseworthy



***

    The headmaster remained hidden in his office for the next month and during the entire winter when students went home. Thankfully, Hydrus Black had gone back, but also this was a disadvantage. Severus had warned the headmaster to keep Hydrus from leaving lest he learn more or aid in an actual attack but Albus had no idea how to keep him and especially with his knowledge of who Harry Potter was and the details of forcing him to return back home, he wouldn’t be able to convince Mr. Black to listen to him, not when he couldn’t just lie to him. The dear boy knew too much, so much in fact that he had leverage over the headmaster and Albus did not like being in the position he had been holed into.

    Hydrus got off the Hogwarts Express and gathered his trunk and looked for ‘Marvolo’, who was waiting for him alongside Narcissa who was waiting for Draco. Hydrus waved to his other _friends_ and wrapped his arms around Tom. He pulled the thick, stylish coat that hung over his rather muggle clothes up by the lapels before pressing his face against his chest. Draco approached his mother and she summoned their house elf, Dobby, to gather his things and take them back to the manor.

    “I missed you,” Hydrus said as he inhaled the comforting scent of his eldest lover. Tom reached down and wrapped his arms around Hydrus before patting his shoulder so he would release him. Hydrus pulled back and one of the Riddle/Slytherin/Gaunt house elves collected Hydrus’ things and took it all back to his room.

    “Let’s go home,” Tom took Hydrus’ hand and walked with him to a small, empty space that someone had just disapparated from and he wrapped an arm around Hydrus’ shoulders before he side-along apparated them back to Riddle Manor. They walked inside and the first thing that Hydrus did once in the privacy of their home was pushed Tom against the back of the door and got on his tiptoes to reach and kiss Voldemort who kissed him back, one hand reaching around to hold the nape of his neck and the other resting against the door, palm pressed against the lacquered wood. Hydrus’ entire body shuddered as he felt long fingers curl around the back of his neck and he reached up to hold onto Tom’s lapels. They broke apart after minutes of voiceless silence as their lips met and their teeth clashed. Hydrus looked up at Tom with glazed eyes and a burning need but his lover was immune to _that_ look and instead smiled and patted the top of his head as if he was a small child.

    “I’m not a baby, Tom,” Hydrus grumbled, turning around. He understood when he wasn’t wanted and he didn’t feel very persistent. He wasn’t used to not getting what he wanted. He had been completely spoiled by the voracious students at Hogwarts and there was always plenty of him to go around and he _loved_ it. Voldemort’s long legs carried him closer to Hydrus as he walked away and the Dark Lord rested his hands on Hydrus’ shoulders.

    “I know you’re not,” in all honesty, Hydrus hadn’t been the only one who had been needy. The Dark Lord didn’t realize how bad he had gotten when he had the opportunity for pleasure at all times, but even he grew lonely and hungry when Hydrus was away. He however had been suffering slightly more since he couldn’t get from others what Hydrus took from others, he only felt certain things towards Hydrus and the rare occasion where he would even bed Lucius, who was always willing to be fucked just as much as he was to pound into Hydrus. Lucius always said the most obscene things. That pervert, but without Hydrus, neither of them had the confidence to seek each other out. It was like a bridge and that bridge was separated in the middle, their relationship was different, it was that of a loyal servant and that servant’s overlord, but when Hydrus was around, he filled that gap and brought them all together in ways that they would have never expected, and they were getting less awkward around each other when put in sexual situations, as Lucius never hesitated to be proud one second and tower above his minions before he was on his knees in front of his Lord doing anything that Voldemort pleased, because Lucius had vowed, had given his life, to serve him. Hydrus, although not taking the same mark or stated his intentions, never failed to let everyone know how he was very much on their side, and how _loyal_ he was to their Lord and for Tom, Hydrus’ show of faith and trust in him, was far more than he could have ever asked for.

    “Why do you treat me like a child, I’m not that young. You’re ancient but I’m not hesitating to touch you or to show you how much I enjoy being with you, do I?” Tom didn’t answer with words but he let out a soft sigh. This was not the way he wanted to start things off, not with an argument. Was Hydrus going to turn into a brat?

    “It was merely a gesture of affection, pet. I meant nothing by it, and I definitely don’t want you to be angry so early into your holiday,” Hydrus twisted in Voldemort’s grasp and the Dark Lord his hands before setting them back down once Hydrus was facing him. Hydrus didn’t look angry, he looked upset, but not with anger, he looked depressed and sad. He looked as if he was about to start crying at any given moment. “What has brought this on, my little love?” Hydrus just stepped forward and pressed his cheek against his body and held back tears until he couldn’t and he grabbed fistfuls of Tom’s clothes. Tom wrapped his arms around his little lover and let him cry. A few minutes later, Tom had picked Hydrus up and was taking him to their bathroom where he would draw him a large bath and use his favourite soap, the sugar cookie scented soap that he grew so fond of when he first arrived at the manor, years ago. He set Hydrus down on his bed and slowly stripped Hydrus’ clothes while the boy stopped crying, he stared down absently at Voldemort who was going to take care of him.

    Nobody got to see _Tom_ , they saw Voldemort, their Lord, but Tom had been privileged to see _Harry_ when he was still weak, when he needed love, and he was willing to continue to let him see his own, self perceived weakness because he trusted Hydrus more than he trusted anybody else, besides maybe Nagini. Hydrus had never done anything to break his trust and he had put so much trust and faith into Voldemort, the Dark Lord, that Tom couldn’t help but to return it to his precious little one. He finished stripping Hydrus of his robes and he picked him back up before turning the bath on. It would fill in a short amount of time and stay warm for very long. The sugary soap was added to the bath as it always did when Hydrus was taking a bath, and he sat Hydrus in the tub. He leaned over the side and raked his fingers through Hydrus’ hair.

    “I ruined one of the _saviours_ , I scrambled his mind. He will likely never recover. He is just a walking vegetable at this point,” Hydrus finally said as he reached out and brought the bubbles closer to his chest. “The other one, Longbottom, is a helpless, feeble nervous-wreck, but he could somehow rise to the occasion, but I don’t think he will… they were talking about how it was unfair that nobody did things for _them_ when they were going to _save_ all of the other students. It was stupid reasons, they didn’t want to do their homework or something and thought they should have been in advanced classes. All their little Gryffindor friends were cheering them on and I told them that… I told them that they had expected all of that from Harry Potter and they hadn’t even thought twice about it. They told me I didn’t know him, that they were his friends. They weren’t his friends, they left him! The left me! I would never trade what I have now, or what decision I made, but they’re wrong and they’re hypocrites and I wanted to hurt them. They called me a liar and a death eater,” Hydrus gave a weak laugh. “If they only knew, huh?” Tom had admittedly gotten very uncomfortable when Hydrus started talking about Harry Potter, not because he disliked Harry, because Harry was Hydrus just a little different but they were the same person no matter how much Hydrus tried to separate himself from Harry Potter. “And I did hurt Ron, just like I wanted to. I hurt him in front of the headmaster though. He has no proof of me doing anything but I was tearing into his mind and then Dumbledore distracted me and I looked at him and shredded into his mind, but I stopped it quickly. I just… I couldn’t stop, it felt so good, knowing that I was hurting him, that I was going to make him suffer,” Hydrus sunk lower into the tub and Tom nodded his head, as he listened, just to reassure Hydrus that he was in fact listening to what he was saying and that it was okay, that he understood and agreed with what he was saying.

    “Dumbledore knows that I’m Asmodeus. I don’t know how he even knew of Asmodeus but I’m sure Snape told him. Snape has been feeding him information for a decade it seems, a little longer maybe. He suffered for his betrayal however. I made him live through two separate deaths and then he felt himself decay. He hasn’t looked at me, spoken to me and when he comes close to me, or I go to him, he diverts himself and avoids me. He ignores my existence, as if that will protect him. I don’t see why you need a traitor in your ranks. I thought that’s why we let Sirius kill Wormtail a couple years ago, because traitors deserved a cruel fate as cosmic retribution for causing chaos and ruining possible paths. You don’t need him anymore. This summer you will have the entire sixth year class of Slytherin infiltrating the school and if we play our cards right, we can easily sway Umbridge to our side. Believe it or not, she does have authority and precedence in the Ministry as the Ministry's Under Secretary.

    “... I shouldn’t have been so foolish and exposed myself and my abilities so soon. I’m sorry. They don’t have anyway to prove that I did anything but they will definitely be defensive around me now. My attempts at recruiting from the other houses isn’t going well either since news travelled about my involvement with ‘torturing’ the saviour. Of course, they don’t know what true torture is because I wouldn’t have hurt him so quickly if I was really torturing him. I would have taken my time and pelled him open, layer and layer until he was so gone that his soul detaches from his body,” Hydrus let his head rest on the side of the tub, his cheek pressed against the edge. Tom’s fingers continued to soothingly run through his hair, his nails scratching against his scalp ever so often. Hydrus sighed and stood up, reaching across the bath to grab a towel. He wrapped it around his body and stepped over the edge of the bath. He let Tom picked him back up and carry him back to the bed where Tom lay him down and scoot him over so he could lay beside him They didn’t speak again. Hydrus took off the towel and slid under the blankets. Tom reached out and pulled Hydrus’ back to his chest.

    Tom had much to think about. He was a Dark Lord, and they didn’t admit being wrong, they weren’t even fully human by the time they reach their Lord status as the magic has turned their body into something more conductive of strong magic. Luckily, Tom’s body remained mostly human, but he was also very distinctly magically altered as his hands, his height, and his eyes were not of a human at all. He would be afraid that magic would change his deadly little angel but Hydrus wasn’t purely human, or at least, Tom had his doubts about the validity of his purely human blood. It wouldn’t be too odd as purebloods often, secretly, bred with magical creatures when their magic started to die out due to lack of fresh magic. It made stronger offspring in the long run and added strengths to their children which were favourable. That wasn’t important then though, what was important was that his devil was upset, he was hurt and he hadn’t seen him so hurt for so long. _Hurt_ . They both had too much of that in their life and both of them were bound to live through more than any person should. Perhaps it was better described as pain, but ‘hurt’ was much easier to relate to because it wasn’t all painful, but it was feeling betrayed, unloved, hated, ashamed, wrong… it wasn’t entirely pain, it was just _hurt_. Hurtful.

    It was almost hard to fall asleep with so much on his mind and he had been using so much dreamless sleep he had to kick it before it became a serious addiction. Not like he could trust his potions master anymore, the man wasn’t on his side and Tom didn’t know where, along the line, he had lost him. If he could only take him back. He wanted to keep such a brilliant person under his rule, but he knew that with Hydrus intimidating and mentally killing him and forcing him to deal with it, he likely wouldn’t get to keep him. Hydrus was right, it was about the time that he needed to give Severus an ultimatum. He could deceive the old man and kill him, or he could die. Showing leniency towards one was unacceptable and if he happened to meet a bodiless fate again, he wanted Hydrus to be able to rule in his stead. That said, he had to demonstrate and properly teach Hydrus how to rule and what was expected and needed from him. Paperwork was a big one, but he wouldn’t force that on Hydrus until he absolutely had to. He was quite fond of Hydrus’ little moods where he would come entertain him but he always regretted letting Hydrus get what he wanted because he usually got backlogged with work.

   Luckily for the winter holidays, he had completed all of the paperwork from the year and he would restart his work, and he would get a new place for the upcoming year’s files and documents, the next year. Preferably after he had doted on Hydrus enough, and hopefully after he takes Hydrus on his first raid. It was a gift from Voldemort to Asmodeus, the upcoming breakout from Azkaban. In three days time, he would gather his remaining death eaters and he would take Asmodeus with him and they would tear Azkaban down, tear it to shreds, and save all of their people. He had so much to get done. He may have put in all the appropriate paperwork and got the funds for everything but he knew the new year would start with the backlash of such a large step towards his end goal. It was worth it though, because when the wizarding world was under his command, when things were the way they should be, he could take the time he wanted off, and he could delegate work to his upper level minions, but until then, he didn’t trust the death eaters with too much. The two he kept by his side, since before Hydrus, was Bellatrix and Lucius. The Black family had been extremely supportive, all besides Sirius Black, and then the Lestranges brought forth their power. He had the Lestrange and Malfoy families support since the beginning, since he was first building his ranks, back when he was at Hogwarts. Abraxas had been one of his first followers and he had entrusted his son to him when he was young and just out of school. He had put his faith and trust to those families and he had gotten only loyalty and faith back from them.

    About the issues with Hydrus and the headmaster, since Severus was most likely going to meet his death sooner rather than later, Tom could only hope that the headmaster truly has no proof. He would have to get a new spy into the school, one that knew of Hydrus and one that competent. That ruled out Draco and that ruled out all the other Slytherins in Hydrus’ class. They were children, and while Hydrus was still fifteen years old in body, he had the wisdom of someone much older. He needed an intellectual equal that he could speak to and that could transfer messages between he and his youngest lover. Of course, where he could find a person like this, who was suitable for getting a position at the school and someone who didn’t already have a job or a position that aided him, was going to be very difficult. He had already eliminated his immediate thoughts. He couldn’t use the Carrow siblings despite their wishes to be educators because they had been imprisoned in Azkaban and there was nobody suitable for them to polyjuice and get into the school… unless he could get Alecto to do a double duty and get Professor Umbridge’s hair. She was a little burlier and much more butch than the delicate petal Dolores, but she could play a part, she was good at playing parts. She was a Slytherin, she could be great at anything if she applied herself to it. He would have thought of Bella but she hated most children, she hated Gryffindors and she was a crazy murderer, to be quite honest. So, she wasn’t the best choice and unless he found another potions master that could replace Severus and continue to be a spy, there was no way that he could find an easy way to go about this. All roads, all options, were complex and he was going to have to sit down and think about this one. Dammit! If Severus had just stayed loyal to him he wouldn’t be having this problem.

    Hydrus woke up in the morning and rolled over, spreading half of his body out on top of another body, albeit this body was much cooler, almost cold, but still arms lifted and wrapped around him. He nuzzled against the chest his head was currently rested on. He had no doubt who the man beneath him and he sat up and looked down at his lover’s bare chest.

    “When did you strip?” Tom’s eyes lazily blinked away and he groaned before reaching up to wipe his face to wake up.

    “Last night after you were asleep. I only took my shirt off. Why? Do you not like it?” This time, Hydrus smiled and leaned down to kiss Tom’s chest, he dragged his blunt fingers down his sides. “No nails to scratch me with?”

    “I’ve developed a disgusting habit of biting them. I could see what I can do if you want me to scratch you,” Hydrus leaned forward and pressed a kiss to Tom’s lip only to feel teeth tug at his bottom lip. He pushed himself further up on Tom’s body before he leaned down to really kiss Tom. Hydrus’ hands moved, his fingers dragging up Tom’s body and then one resting on Tom’s chest while the other cups his cheek. Hydrus straddled Tom’s abdomen and leaned over to continue kissing Tom. He pulled back for a breath and kissed down Tom’s jaw. He nipped his jawbone and gave him soft kisses. Tom’s hands held Hydrus up by his waist, his thumbs running lower as he stroked the lightly defined path made of his hipbones. Hydrus was pushed down Tom’s body and the Dark Lord sat up, taking advantage of the cute expression on his lover’s face before kissing his chewed lips. Hydrus moved his head back and let Tom kiss and suck on his neck. He had been good, he had waited a week since he let anyone mark him up just so Tom could claim him and remind him that he was very much the Dark Lord’s perfect little pet.

    “Ah, such nice, unmarked skin. Did you keep yourself unmarked just for me?”

    “Of course I did,” Hydrus laced his fingers through Tom’s hair as his lover gave him beautiful hickeys along his throat and collar bones. He would look like a vampire victim by the end of their session, no doubt about it. Tom could get possessive and one of the hottest things that Tom did was mark him up and let everybody know who had given them to his lover. Hydrus didn’t mind being treated like a possession, especially when it felt so good, but he knew he was more than just an object to Tom. When Tom held him and comforted him, he was also letting Hydrus know that he cared and that’s all Hydrus could ever ask for: someone’s affection, honest love -- but the sex wasn’t bad either and he could never complain when it came to Tom or even his other precious lover, Lucius. They both took such good care of him, it made him feel warm and tingly, a different kind of tingle than he got in his stomach when they touched, caressed and petted him.

    Tom’s hand slid down Hydrus’ chest and he brushed his fingers over Hydrus’ hardening length before he swatted at Hydrus’ legs making him spread them further apart. Tom pulled himself up, his lips still attached to the beautiful skin of his Hydrus before he pushed Hydrus back, one hand behind his head to support him as he fell back and another on his hip. His little lover made the softest noises when he wasn’t _trying_ to be enticing, but that didn’t mean that Tom disliked his more ‘modest’ sounds. They were actually more erotic because they were real and not over exaggerated, they were just because of the pleasure he was feeling, nothing else. Tom moved back and kissed Hydrus softly. His body was between Hydrus’ spread legs and he kissed down Hydrus’ body, stopping to kiss the insides of his thighs. Just feeling his lover so close to where he wanted him, where he _needed_ him, made Hydrus moan and lift his hand to his mouth, the back of his hand resting against his lips. Despite loving the attention he had gotten in the dorm with the boys, he didn’t always moan like a wanton slut, he sometimes had the ‘decency’ to be embarrassed and when he thought about Ron calling him a whore to be mean, rather than to arouse him like Tom and Lucius did, it made him almost ashamed. Hydrus hadn’t felt ashamed for so long that he wasn’t sure he wanted to continue with his previously lovely morning. He wanted to just get back under the blankets and hide, which only made him angry at himself. He was the strongest wizard in the entirety of Hogwarts, he was smart and powerful. He shouldn’t have been feeling so bad, but he was. He was an evil, sadistic, dark wizard, not some emotional little boy.

    “What’s wrong?” Tom reached up to push Hydrus’ hand away from his slightly ajar mouth. Of course, the lascivious sounds had stopped and his eyes had started to glaze with tears rather than haze with pleasure.

    “I’m sorry,” Hydrus sat up and drew his legs up, inching away from Tom to rest his cheek against his knees. “I really wanted this, but then… I’m just being a brat, it’s nothing you did,” Tom sat back on his heels as he had been on his knees previously, towering over Hydrus’ supine body.

    “You’ve never been this upset since you arrived to the manor… who is it then? The person that made you hurt again?” Tom pulled Hydrus to his chest. He would never admit to actually enjoying such domesticity, but it was normalcy, and while he didn’t like ‘normal’ he definitely enjoyed having the chance to feel _human_.

    “I already ruined them. He will never have another conscious thought again. I didn’t have a chance to steal his soul yet, but I will when I find a way. He’s under high security in St. Mungo’s, I scrambled his brain like Mipsy scrambles eggs,” Hydrus let out a soft laugh and he turned to wrap his arms around Tom’s neck. “I’ve forgot that others don’t know who I am, I wasn’t used to being around people who had no idea how powerful I am, and therefore, they had no reason to fear me. They said things, he said things, and I was never called a whore out of the context that you use when you’re making me feel good. I’m not a whore, I just know how to get what I want. Right? I’m only your whore, I promise. I had fun with the boys at school but you said I could and I don’t play with them like I play with you. They are all selfish little bastards too, you actually care about me. Please tell me that you care about me,” Hydrus hid his face against Tom’s neck.

    “I care about you. I’ve cared about you for a long time, and although I don’t regret killing your parents, I regret that you were placed with such horrible people and that everyone who should have protected you, used you. That is my fault, but I care about you. I will always care about you. You’ve made such an impression on me I don’t think you will ever be rid of me,” Hydrus laughed and pulled away before getting off the bed. “What are you laughing at. It’s not often I admit anything like this. If someone were to hear me I would have an identifiable weakness, not saying you are anywhere close to being defenseless but it the possible threat of hurting you that would bring me down. It’s too _human_ ,” Tom would never admit to liking the mortal feelings, the feelings that made humanity what it was, not even to Hydrus.

    “I forgot your distaste for humans,” Hydrus looked through Tom’s closet and picked out a soft, pale shirt and buttoned it up before rolling the sleeves up to his elbows. It hung down to the middle of his thighs and he shook his head. Tom was so gangly, but he was still beautiful and held himself with a elegant manner that would make the Malfoys jealous… well maybe not that regal, but close to it. Hydrus crawled back on the bed and Tom folded down the collar on his shirt before he got up and stretched his arms up, his fingers reaching the ceiling. The ceiling had to be nine feet tall, but that didn’t mean anything to someone as tall as Voldemort. “So, what have you planned for the holiday? Anything fun?”

    “Yes, I would like to speak to you in my office actually,” Voldemort grabbed a shirt and buttoned it up before pulling a vest on. Over the shirt and vest he slipped into a dark blue robe. “There shouldn’t be any death eaters here, they all have families, or business, that they should be attending to, but it’s cold, you may want to put some pants on. Meet me in my office in ten minutes, I’ll have food brought up to us,” Tom smiled warmly before he changed completely and he slipped out of the room, leaving the door open with the expectation of Hydrus closing it once he left. Hydrus called for Nippy and asked her to bring him a pair of  pyjama pants. She popped back into the room and handed him the dark purple sleep pants and he pulled them on before padding out of the room, sure to shut the door after he exited.

    Hydrus walked into the office where a breakfast feast was set up for them on Tom’s cleared desk. Hydrus sat down on the chair and pulled his legs and feet under him. It was cold, he was starting to regret not wearing a robe or socks. If it got too bad he could always just call Nippy to bring him more clothes, but he wouldn’t until he started to freeze. Hydrus wondered why they hadn’t charmed the rooms to be warmer, why Tom’s room as been so much warmer and more comfortable, but then Tom usually had a reason for everything.

    “So, what are the plans?” Hydrus grabbed a warmed plate and started to serve himself foods that he thought looked good and he took large portions of everything, yet he loved to eat. After eleven years of not being fed, he had started to hoard and eat as much food as he could. He had stopped hoarding food in his room a year earlier, and it took a conscious effort to stop himself from taking non perishable foods to his room and keeping them under his bed or in his closet, scared that he wouldn’t be fed. It was irrational and nobody knew much about it, but it was just one of his flaws. It was just something that made him human, an individual.

    “We’re going to break our followers out of Azkaban in two days,” Voldemort was adding sugar to his coffee. After a few minutes of silence, he looked up. Hydrus had swallowed his food, but he was frozen. How were they going to break into and get people out of the highest security Wizarding Prison? How long had the Dark Lord been planning the attack and break out? Hydrus had questions flying through his mind faster than a firebolt but he was shocked out of it when Tom started to try and explain. “I chose to break them out now because the public will find out about us due to the events at the Triwizard Tournament. If you noticed, Dumbledore has been ruined in the papers, and people are growing annoyed with him and his insistence that I’m back. Of course, if we were to break the death eaters from Azkaban, I would have to be back. However, he thinks I’m new, that I only just came back. He may think that I’m at a disadvantage, which means he will underestimate us. This will give us the advantage,” Tom continued to explain his plans, his hands moving vaguely as he gesticulated on every ‘point’ or ‘big’ event in the plan. Hydrus managed to finish his food and both his glass of chocolate milk and tea before he set his plate on the desk. Nippy and Mipsy cleared the desk off before attending to their other duties. Hydrus sat back in his seat.

    “That sounds like an amazing plan… are you sure we can do it? What if there are too many deaths of our people?”

    “Then will have extra warriors, now won’t you?” Voldemort frowned at the displeased look on Hydrus’ face. “I mean, there won’t be many casualties, the death eaters are back in proper shape and have been taking time to train under my appointed ones in order to prepare them for this battle. If they cannot handle the task set before them, the task to do as I ask, then they should not be death eaters, now should they?” Hydrus could only nod. It made sense, but his idea is that if too many of their death eaters are attacked, they won’t have the numbers to continue on their next attack, but he trusted Voldemort’s decision enough to keep his opinion silent. The Dark Lord rearranged the things on his desk before focusing on Hydrus. “I don’t have any paperwork to bore you with until the new year, how would you like to spend our time before the raid?”

    Hydrus hummed, “I want to show off my ‘father’ to Diagon Alley and perhaps visit a little red head at the hospital.”

    The grins plastered on both of their faces were similar to that of a devious, if not chaotic, chesire cat and Hydrus stood and scampered off to get dressed in appropriate clothing for going to Diagon Alley. Of course it was nothing fancy, so he didn’t have to try and dress to impress. He did however want everyone to know that he was wealthy, as the heir and soon-to-be Lord of the Most Ancient and Noble House of Black would be, not only this but if his ‘father’ was Lord Slytherin, then he would have more than enough money to have anything his heart could desire, and he would have everything he desired if Tom or Lucius had any say in what he could have. Hydrus left his room and shut the door softly before making his way down to the foyer where his shoes would be waiting for him. He slipped on pointed-toe, black, ankle boots with three buckles in the front and waited by the door for ‘Marvolo Slytherin’ to come down the stairs. Finally, disguised as his alter ego, but still the ungodly height he almost always was, Voldemort walked down the stairs and slipped on his own shoes, a slim but human hand adjusting and fixing the heels which decided to collapse on him before he could get his foot in the boot. Finally, with his own boots on, Lord Slytherin and Hydrus walked across the room and took a right to the floo room.

    The Leaky Cauldron was as plebeian as always and both Dark Lords looked very out of place. They didn’t let this bother them, nor did they pay attention to the stares they received from the patrons of such a _nice_ establishment. Tom couldn’t help but look down upon all the rude people seated around the room as he went to the wall and waited for Hydrus to use his wand to open the door. If Lord Slytherin was anything, he was proficient in wandless magic, or so he said. If he were to use his wand, it would easily be recognized as the wand of a dark wizard and with a closer look it was definitely the wand of Lord Voldemort. It wouldn’t be helpful for anyone to know his true identity yet. Lord Slytherin had been prominent in the actions of the Hogwarts Board of Governors as well as the Wizengamot, so outing his true identity would be very counter productive. Although he hadn’t changed his height, he was still easily recognizable as ‘Marvolo’ and therefore his strange height could be dismissed as anything from a potions accident, as he was rather proficient in potions (not nearly as proficient as Severus, but he was better than most), or he could have been teaching Hydrus, his ‘son’ according to all their legal documents under his fake name, how to duel and had a misfired spell go crazy and hit him. Magic was a very _magical_ thing after all.

 

    It was the morning of the day they were to break their people out of Azkaban.

    Hydrus was hidden behind a mask, but not a common death eater mask. His mask covered his eyes and forehead and two long, sharp horns protruded from the top. He wore his hood down but he wore a cloak over his dark purple robes. Hydrus stood between his lovers. Lucius wore his mask and his hood was pulled up while the Dark Lord wore a plain black robe but he lacked shoes so his nearly translucent skin of his feet glowed under the lights and with the bright veins showing underneath his skin. He was in a form that he used to make others fear him, the one where he was much more serpentine than he normally was. The Elite death eaters stood behind them and before them were the rest of the death eaters.

    “You all know what we are going to do. Failure is not an option and is not acceptable, it will not be tolerated. You do _not_ deviate from the plan that you were all briefed on,” the Dark Lord took a deep breath. “Those on brooms, take to the air. We’re leaving now. Do _not_ disappoint me!”

    Those on brooms took off and flew out of the wards of Slytherin Castle and the Elite along with both Dark Lords took to the air in trails of black smoke. Meanwhile, in a random muggle town that happened to be conveniently far away from the Ministry but also surrounded by witches and wizards who lived in the houses around the outskirts of town. Two underlings dragged a muggle off the sidewalk and into the street. They started to make noise so that people would look at them. In a flash of green the muggle dropped to the ground before one pointed their wand in the air and shot the dark mark into the sky. Both wizards ran out of the public eye and apparated to the wards at Riddle Manor before walking inside. They had the easy job. All they had to do was kill a weak muggle and then shoot the dark mark into the air to alert the aurors and then they were done and far out of harm’s way.

    The flight there was longer than expected but when they all reached the ground. The wizards, and the few witches, shrunk their brooms and hid them away in their pockets before guards rushed out of the prison and started firing at the death eaters who were approaching them. Hydrus got to the ground and squeezed his way into the middle of the group. He could hear the thud of bodies dropping and he could feel the energy of the souls detaching from the bodies and dissipating back to the astral plane to await being reborn. Hydrus took to the air in a wisp of black smoke and he avoided the dementors that, although he could fight them -- one of the only dark wizards who could -- could hurt him, and he didn’t want to deal with them. Once they saw that he was more like one of them as opposed to the humans that they drew souls from, he could manipulate those souls. It would be a great alliance if he managed to get the dementors under his control. They could make an amazing team and he would rather deal with magical creatures and non-beings (like dementors) as his army opposed to using human witches and wizards. As the last guard dropped, Hydrus landed gracefully, as if he was an angel, and he started to work his magic. He walked around the battlefield, breathing half-life back into the soldiers under his command. He finished the last soldier and commanded them to get up in the death language. He directed forward and the death eaters walked past him and his newly awakened army. He had the dead guards’ wands raised but he highly doubted any corpses could cast any strong magic, not even half of the strength that they had alive since Hydrus wasn’t omnipotent, he wasn’t a God, he was just close to one. He couldn’t give corpses power, giving them any magical ability is draining his core since they no longer have a functioning core in which to draw their power. Cores are attached to the souls. Once a wizard, always a wizard, in every life until the true death.

    The death eaters marched inside the building and were led by a wizard who could cast a patronus in case they were attacked by a dementor. The teams split up and travelled to every floor in order to clear the levels of all prisoners but only giving the death eaters a portkey back to Slytherin Castle. Hydrus ran his fingers over the shoulders of his army. They made a tall wall, one that he was small enough to be hidden by due to his short height. Even the shortest auror that had been reanimated was a good three inches taller than him. Hydrus peeked through the cracks between his zombie’s arms for the aurors and sure enough they started arriving an hour into the attack. They were very disorganized and hesitated when they saw their men lined up. They saw sharp horns poking up over the shoulders of their own men before they turned to look at each other, all were nervous and most seemed too young to really be aurors from what Hydrus could see. Then he poked his wand between some people and shot a curse out at them. Then open fired started and Hydrus was easily protected by his meat shields, former aurors, and maneuvered behind them while he continued to shoot down the attackers. Slowly he picked them off and just as soon as they were falling, he was summoning their corpses and breathing false life back into them and they would rise again and continue to shield him while every now and then they would have enough energy to shoot an spell or charm but they never did much. Some of the death eaters came back outside and avoided random curses and hexes while they enlarged their brooms and handed out all the extra brooms to the untrustable prisoners that they were going to plan on recruiting for their viciousness, or for their magic that got them incarcerated. Some of the new prisoners watched as a _child_ breathed ‘life’ back into a corpse and then watched as the body rose to its feet and then started to shield the little one while he shot out curses which damaged the aurors on the other side of the animated wall. Some stared but they were sent off when the Dark Lord, Voldemort, walked from the prisoner and waved them away before joining in with attacking the aurors beside the mysterious little boy. The few aurors retreated. They knew a lost cause when they saw one and they couldn’t risk the rest of their forces dying. There weren’t enough aurors to even attempt to stop an attack anywhere else now. Even the Unforgivables left on brooms and they circled around as they tried to order the dementors to attack, but they resisted their commands and chased them away. Hydrus collapsed minutes later at the same time all the bodies under his control dropped. There had to be sixty corpses and he would be bed ridden as he tried to gain back the magical strength. Using such a large amount of magic was just like exercise as it would heal itself over time with care and then the next time he has to use a similar amount of power he could hold it up for much longer. It helped endurance to do as he had done, and he knew that he would be taken care of as he felt arms wrap around him and then he was flying, his face pressed against Tom’s chest as they were speeding through the air.

    They landed, but not at Riddle Manor. It was much to conspicuous to leave and enter Riddle Manor in the same way that they had left and gotten back to Slytherin Castle.

    “Lucius is going to take you to our bedroom. If you need anything, call for Nippy,” he was passed off, sweetly, to his other lover who picked him up and took him up the carved-stone stairs. Lucius removed his mask and took the dirty cloak off of him before tucking him into the rather large bed. Lucius kissed his forehead before leaving the room to deal with the other death eaters. Hydrus fell asleep, but it wasn’t restful. He was too anxious to sleep peacefully, too scared for everyone he cared about and about someone attacking them, although it wasn’t a realistic fear. The enemy didn’t have enough forced to attack them, and they didn’t know where Slytherin Castle was unless they followed them and even then, the wards would alert them to any attack well before they came close enough to actually start a fight.

    Voldemort called his Elite and the escaped followers to the dining hall while Narcissa and Severus, who hadn’t been told of their mission but rather was called after the attack and informed he needed for healing. Not many death eaters were deathly wounded due to them being shielded by a wall of the slaughtered, but several were given chocolate to counteract the effects from dementors that had attacked. All the leaders of the groups could ‘cast’ a patronus, but none were strong enough to cast it with perfect accuracy, in fact, many of the attacks were only stopped as the dementors watched as the necromancer was playing with the balances, something they hadn’t witnessed for so long that they were all quite taken, despite not being able to feel much.

    In the dining hall, Voldemort waved his wand and the chairs pulled themselves out from under the table. Just like before the war, his subjects sat in their arranged seats, in a slightly shifted order since where they had first been elected to be in Voldemort’s Elite/Inner Circle. Bella and her husband sat to the left of Voldemort, and to the left at the head of the rectangular table is where Hydrus would take his place. To the right was the Malfoy family, where Draco would eventually be offered a seat due to his father’s success in his ranks. To his right was where Nagini normally rested, or she would once she showed up (she was always late but that was never important to her, she could only speak with Voldemort and Hydrus anyway, so it’s not like she could offer her opinions and argue with anyone else). Across the table, to the right were the Carrow siblings and to the right were the other Ministry employees (Macnair and Rookwood). The other seats were taken, but they were to be known more by his death eaters, as he didn’t have such time to argue with where they sat. Their seats were always the same though unless the Dark Lord rearranged them himself. Voldemort summoned a box to him and flipped the wooden lid open before handing Bellatrix her wand, slid Rodolphus’ wand to him, levitated another to Rabastan and Antonin. He dispersed all the wands to their rightful owners and then vanished the box before he leaned forward. Bellatrix was as crazy as ever, her eyes alive with insane loyalty and deranged passion. Her husband and his brother, along with those who were captured and imprisoned, all gave him a similar look. Not as longing as Bellatrix’s gaze but it was enough to show their thanks without saying it. He didn’t require such things from the people who went to Azkaban rather than renounce their allegiance to him. They were the most loyal and he would treat them well. Some of the other Inner Circle were curious about the mysterious boy who was resurrecting bodies. They all knew of Hydrus Black, the teenager who walked around Riddle Manor as if he owned the place, and they all knew how lenient their lord was towards the brat, but they understood why he was so kind to him if he harboured such strength.

    “I’m glad you are all back and in mostly good health. You will be checked over by a healer to make sure that you are truly healthy and to check and see if you were _damaged too badly_. I’m sure you’re all curious. You’re staring at me with interested eyes, did something happen to make you amused?” His tone turned dark and annoyed, almost as if he was bored by their eyes filled with unasked questions.

    “Who was that _boy_ at the prison?” Macnair asked, as if he was disgusted that someone so young and small could harness such great power. It was almost embarrassing how weak he felt compared to the little brat who had an army of zombies at his disposal.

    “That was Lord Asmodeus. You’ve all heard of him but you’ve never seen him, at least not as he was tonight. You will show him the same respect you show me, anything less will result in a rather horrible punishment, am I clear?” There was a round of ‘Yes, my Lord’ and the nodding of heads. “Good,” he turned to Bellatrix. “Bella, I’m glad to have you back. I’m glad to have all of you back. You remained loyal to me despite my incapacitations. I have to admit that I have been back for a few years, but I could not dare to release you. For your loyalty however, you will be greatly rewarded. I _always_ reward those who are deserving of such. So I ask those of you who gave fourteen years of your life up rather than renounce your affiliation to me, what do you want?”

    There was a long silence and suddenly Bella’s loud cackling laughter was bouncing off the walls and only grew louder as the acoustics in the castle amplified her mania. The other followers who had been rescued looked around at each other. They all felt proud, they felt _good_ for staying true to their Lord, to their Master. They were the ones who were in his good graces and he was generous to those he knew he could trust to stay with him, those who _deserved_ his benevolency.

     “I want to meet our new Lord, the one you have thought worthy to be trusted as we trust you, my Lord,” Rabastan said, his head bowing as he asked but fanatic smile never faded, even when he looked up and to his Lord, a man who promised them a reward for their loyalty, the man who would save and change the world, to do as it should have been since the beginning.

     “He had created quite an army of reanimated corpses, he is very young and is resting. You will all meet Asmodeus when the time is right, and some of you will meet the child behind the mask. However I want you all to know that he has permission to kill _any of you_ , and what he does with your body or your soul will be up to him. He has a rather strong handle on necromancy and is very useful to us and our cause. Now, I offer again, what do you want?”

    “I want a feast, my Lord. I want to eat good food and drink what I want!” Antonin and Thorfinn pounded their fists on the table and all the escapees hooted and hollered. The Dark Lord couldn’t hide his smile, couldn’t hide his own amusement at his followers. He let them calm down on their own before raising his hand to keep them calm.

    “We will feast tomorrow, all day if you so desire,” he offered. “You may eat whatever you like tonight, and I only ask that you do not beat the house elves. If they are injured they will not be able to serve us to their best abilities tomorrow. All of you are invited.”

    “My Lord,” Rodolphus called. “May we dress in more appropriate clothing. I think I speak for all of us, we would appreciate the chance to bathe and dress in clean clothes.”

    “Of course you would, you will be shown to the rooms you may stay in, and they are there for all of you to continue to live in if you wish to stay here. I’m sure you may wish to check on the Black and Lestrange properties. I will send a notice to Gringotts to send a goblin to get all of your affairs in order. You are dismissed, all of you except you Bella and Rodolphus. If you have any more requests you may take them to Lucius and he will inform me!” Several pops of house elves entering the room sounded and the house elves took each convict to their rooms and brought them clean clothes to wear. Bellatrix and her husband stayed in their seats and their Lord remained silent until the last of the other death eaters left, the door clicking closed behind them.

    “You need us, my Lord,” Bella and Rodolphus looked up at him, this time their enthusiasm was equally matched.

    “There is a child, in fact, Lord Asmodeus, the necromancer, is only fifteen years old. He will be sixteen this following year. In legal documents, needed for him to attend Hogwarts, Marvolo Slytherin, who is me, is his father. He is the Black heir, but when I tell you what I tell you I trust that you will tell no one even under torture,” his two followers nodded furiously before focusing on them. Bella’s mouth hung ajar, rotted teeth showing from between her full lips. Both of their heads were covered in matted hair, soiled with grime and blood. Flecks of dried blood fell from their heads and bodies as they shifted. “Lord Asmodeus came to me in his first year of Hogwarts and he ask us to save him. He asked me to save him. He gave me my body, how he did so? He was the one who took it away.”

    “Harry Potter?” Bella’s head tilted to the side and her eyes narrowed. She didn’t understand, not because she was daft, but because she hadn’t been able to think about much for such a long time. Her memories were being eaten away and she could only ever think about the horrors of her past and her deep love for Voldemort. Rodolphus experienced similar, if not the same, feelings while in Azkaban and therefore he was also confused.

    “Yes. Harry Potter is the necromancer that aided me in your rescue. Your cousin, Sirius, named him the heir of Black before his incarceration and he has been subsequently released and cleared of all crimes. He therefore holds the power of the Black family. Since Harry Potter is now Hydrus Black, our ‘son’, he is the next in line for the Black family fortune. I am giving you this information because Harry Potter was not living a life he deserved. We all thought he was being taken care of, being trained how to fight, how to protect by the people who claimed he was their Saviour, but he wasn’t. He was forced to live with _muggles_ ,” all three of them shivered as they were disgusted by treatment of a magical child. “He gave me the Philosopher’s Stone and his blood, and therefore I was able to return fully with all of my powers restored. I trained him in the Dark Arts but he found a book while in my library and he found his calling, the Necromantic Arts, the darkest of the Dark Arts. He learned by himself, he read the grimoires, the texts, the spell books, ritual books, the instructions on how to properly meditate, he taught himself, and I have never been so proud of one of _my creations_ . I, however, am no father figure for him. I am very far away from being his parent, but I remember a time when you wished for a son, someone to rule in your place, to stand beside me once you have served your lives, and he needs someone to give him the love that I cannot provide. Familial love. I’m asking you because you are my most trusted, and I _care_ about you and your opinions. You may deny my request, I would not want you to take him only to hate him. I will let you ponder this request but I expect your final decision after you’ve met him… You are dismissed.”

    Bellatrix and Rodolphus bowed their heads respectfully and left the room. A house elf showed them to their large room. On their new bed -- an actual bed! -- rested their clothes, laid out next to each other as if it were a uniform but they were better than what they were dressed in at the moment: rags. Bella stripped her clothes and the elves promptly took the clothes away and cleaned up the dirt and filth that fell from her body and her clothes. They did the same for Rodolphus before they left them to a bath in a giant bath. Far superior to any bath they had ever been permitted to bathe in before (or at least it felt like the most luxurious tub either had the opportunity to soak in). The bubbles were a rainbow of colours and Bella couldn’t hide her delight and she laughed, she couldn’t stop. Even with tears streaking clean trails through the dirt on her face, she couldn’t stop. Rodolphus wrapped his arms around her and she continued to cry as he cried with her. They hadn’t been allowed to do such things in Azkaban. If you were crying, they would punish you, and they learned quickly that one had to act crazy to stay feared by the others. They were the craziest and by far the scariest people who resided in that prison, but even though they both suffered from clinical madness, they weren’t entirely bad people. They were passionate in their servitude to their Lord. They believed in his cause and would do _anything_ for him. They didn’t have to think about the question of taking in the child, it was clear that they would take him in, of course they would do so. He was all they could have asked for, even if he had originally hurt and ruined their Lord, he was very obviously, or at least from what the Dark Lord had informed them about, not the ‘Saviour’ that the rest of the world made him out to be.

***

    Throughout the day, the Elite and Inner Circle joined and ate food or drank what they wanted. The most loyal had gotten clothes, a chance to bathe, a room, and time to sleep. There was no rush through the day, but Voldemort had disappeared often to check on Hydrus who was always waking up at every noise. Eventually Voldemort makes a show of locking, warding and silencing the room and door before he gave him a kiss and left him to rest. It was near midnight and so the Inner Circle had gathered in the dining hall, but rather than sitting in their seats, there were long couches, soft love seats and cushy chairs for everyone to lounge on and eat whatever they wanted. The only people who were allowed to enjoy the entire event, for the entirety of the day, were those who had been sent to Azkaban. Even Hydrus and the Dark Lord hadn’t constantly been in attendance as Hydrus was sleeping and Voldemort had things to get done (not paperwork, but he had other things that just needed his attention). Before midnight, Tom went to Hydrus and gently shook him awake. He helped him up and got his dressed, even though he could have easily instructed the house elves to do all of that for his lover, in a way he was thanking and congratulating Hydrus (in a less fun way since Hydrus was way too exhausted for such strenuous activities) for his assistance at the prison and even more for blocking his death eaters, which he hadn’t been asked to do, but he [Hydrus] had been worried that too many of their men would be lost. They, in the end, lost no one, but some were injured, nothing was incurable and because of that, there was even more reason to be grateful to his little Lord.

    Hydrus held Voldemort’s hand and let himself be led and guided down the stairs, a hand on his waist and another holding his hand as the Dark Lord walked behind him to catch him if he fell. Hydrus reached up with his unoccupied hand and continued to rub the nasty things out of his eyes and blink until his temporary blindness healed, a disadvantage for such powerful magic in such a short period of time. Luckily, none of that was affecting him any longer, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t still exhausted and feeble. The Inner Circle stood up as their Lord brought in a boy, young and petite, in a buttoned green robe that was too long for him and dragged him him as he walked but pooled at his feet when idle. Everyone took a seat once again. They rose to be respectful towards their Lord and apparently the boy at his side. Hydrus looked at everybody and summoned his mask quickly after his scan of their company. Why did Tom let him down without his mask? Tom’s lengthy fingers wrapped around his wrist and stopping him from putting the mask on before he sent the mask back to their room.

    “There is no need for that,” Voldemort said in a tone that nobody in the room had ever heard him take with anybody besides his snake, Nagini. Bellatrix stood up abruptly, nearly knocking over her glass of wine, which Rodolphus caught just like the first time they rose to their feet.

    “Is this him, my Lord?”

    “Is it,” Voldemort let Hydrus pull his hand back to his before he looked over everyone. “How would you like to be introduced?” Hydrus turned back around to look up at his tall lover before turning back to the crowd which consisted purely of the escaped prisoners.

    “I’m Lord Asmodeus,” he started only to have Bella smile at him as if she was sweet. From what he had heard of her, she was not ‘sweet’ so it made his uncomfortable. Everyone was looking at him as if he were a child and not a powerful wizard. These were supposed to be the evilest, vilest, most sadistic people in the wizarding world yet they all had adoration and care in their eyes as they stared at him.

    “Asmodeus,” Voldemort said, startling everyone and drawing their attention away from the teen beside their Lord. “This is Bellatrix Black and her husband Rodolphus Lestrange. That is Rodolphus’ brother Rabastan. The woman with the red hair is Alecto and to her left is her brother, Amycus. The blonde one over there is Thorfinn Rowle and the man who has cheese hanging out of his mouth is Antonin Dolohov. That’s Rosier,” he pointed to a man who had wide eyes and Hydrus wondered if his eyes were always like that and how many times he had to blink since he would assume his eyeballs would dry out much quicker than normal. “That is Barty Crouch Jr. but you already know him,” the Dark Lord named off the few other people who were settled around the room and Asmodeus nodded when he was finished.

    “Well I hope that coming to accept you all will not ruin me in the future,” Asmodeus started bitterly before he looked back up to Tom who raised a a bare brow bone at him. To make everything even more awkward, Tom was in his snake-skin and that meant that he was in his ‘dictator-evil-wizard-preacher’ mode which while annoying did have its uses. Hydrus just hoped that this would be a case where it didn’t become annoying. Several of the death eaters chuckled, almost nervously, before Bella offered her hand as if he was a scared puppy. When he didn’t take her hand she waved him over. Hydrus took a few steps forward and approached her.

    “My Lord,” she addressed Hydrus, not Voldemort. “Would you join my husband and I while we eat? We would be honoured to have you with us tonight,” she looked up at Voldemort. “If that is agreeable with you, My Lord.”

    “He may chose to join whoever he pleases, Bella,” her face twisted slightly but not in discomfort, it seemed almost like a nervous tick but it didn’t happen again. She seemed more nervous than dangerous and Hydrus joined her and Rodolphus on the couch they occupied. She turned to Rodolphus and started a conversation about how she wanted to torture her sister, Andromeda, and rid of her filthy muggleborn brother-in-law. She continued to speak about how much she hated muggles. Hydrus moved just enough to grab a few grapes. He held them in his palm and ate them, looking up at Bella and Rodolphus who were conversing over him. Sometime looking down at him, expecting an answer but not getting one.

    “... she got the Black trait of being a metamorphmagus too, or at least that is what I heard from Cissy the last time I saw her. There has never been a muggleborn in the Black family, not since the first three generations of the Blacks. It is outrageous, the nerve she had to betray her entire family. Yes, we’ve had our fair share of family-tree fires, but very rarely did someone, the second daughter -- the gall on the wench! -- act against their mother and father’s wishes. It’s deplorable! I am never ashamed of my family as a whole, but she had choices and she chose the wrong ones,” Bella nodded her head as she finished to indicate she was finished speaking. Before Rodolphus had the chance to speak, Hydrus finally decided to join their conversation.

    “I hate muggles,” he started. Both adults, on either side of Hydrus, turned their attention to Hydrus. “I hate muggles so much. If our Lord didn’t forbid me, I would have started to kill them all, making them into my inferi and zombies. I would infect them and steal all of their disgusting souls, break them before they had a chance to find a new body. If there are no muggle souls left, then there would be no more muggles. I could find a way, I can always find a way, to only allow magical souls to be born. We could rule the world… the Dark Lord doesn’t want to kill all of them. He knows that it would be a very long time and it would use many of our resources, too many quite honestly, but it doesn’t stop me from wanting to kill them all,” Hydrus frowned and ate the last grape that rested in his palm. He had effectively cleared the bowl of grapes of it’s contents. It was a nice bowl, crystal, carved in intricate patterns. He was trying to focus on anything besides the silence that now took over the entire room. He had either been talking too loud or everyone had stopped talking to listen to him.

    “Our Lord is right,” Rabastan was locked on as a target now, and Hydrus turned to him, glaring, challenging him to continue his thought. He would give them all a lovely demonstration of how easy he could bring the world to ruin. He of course wanted to do this, but he did not have the energy needed to attack right now, he had to continue to rest, it would take at least two more full days of rest and proper nutrition to bring him back to health. He may even have to ask Tom to send him Severus so he could request potions to sleep. He wasn’t sleeping well and that would only prolong the time that he needed to stay down and recharge. “But I hate muggles too. We all do. They are despicable, dirty creatures. There are many more of them then there are us, it has always been that way. Until we have more numbers of magical people, we cannot even think about eliminating them. Although when we outnumber them, I agree that we should hunt them to extinction, and I hope, that if somehow you aren’t able to continue your work, someone follows in your stead and makes sure that they are never reborn, that they are all dead for good.”

    “What about squibs?” It was a nameless voice but an excellent question.

    “They still have magic, they just cannot access it. They are not muggles, they are better than muggles, but they are not like us…” Hydrus tapped his index finger against his lips as he thought about what else he could say about that. “Their bodies is what is stopping them from casting magic, but their soul has the ability to perform such feats. We should just take their bodies away, kill them and help ferry the souls back into our children,” there was silence but nobody disagreed with him. Partly out of fear for what would happen if they disagreed with him and partly because there wasn’t much flaw, at least none that they could see, with his ideas. That made sense, as much sense as souls did. He was the one who managed to create a small army of dead aurors, he likely knew more about souls and the afterlife than any, if not all, of them, regular dark wizards and witches. Hydrus leaned back against the love seat and he gravitated towards the dip in the couch and rested his head on Bellatrix’s side. She didn’t push him away, but she wrapped an arm around his shoulder and offered to get him any potions if he needed any. He smiled and waved her off, he didn’t need anything. She was so soft, her body. It was nice to just rest against her.

    “Would you like for us to get the Dark Lord so you can go back to bed?” Rodolphus asked as Hydrus’ eyelids drooped as he very obviously was trying to stay awake.

    “If you would, thank you,” Rodolphus stood up and went to get the Dark Lord to take Hydrus back to wherever he had him hidden within the castle. A few minutes later Hydrus was wrapped up in Voldemort’s arms and carried against his chest like an injured kitten. He took him back to their room and rested him on the bed, covering him up and sitting beside him. “Did you ask them to be nice to me?”

    “No, they are doing that all on their own.”

    “I mean Bellatrix and Rodolphus, they have both been kind and I heard they were two of the fiercest death eaters in your ranks.”

    “No, I asked them to adopt you,” Hydrus lunged forward and his fist connected with Voldemort’s chest. It didn’t hurt but when Hydrus hunched over, Voldemort was concerned.

    “Of course they’ll do what you say. I don’t need parents, I have you,” when Tom went to pull Hydrus to him, Hydrus gently pushed his hands away from him, a clear dismissal of his affections. Tom frowned. It wasn’t like he forced them to be kind to him, he had asked them and given them a choice. He had told them specifically not to accept if they wouldn’t be able to love Hydrus as if he was their own son. How could he word that so Hydrus would understand and not be so angry at him?

    “I gave them orders. I told them to be honest, and what I say to do, they do. I gave them a _choice_ , and if they didn’t think that they could care for you, then I said that it would be fine, and it would be best if they didn’t take you because you need familial love, something _I can’t_ give you. They still have five days to inform me of their decision, I will not recant my offer to them. If they so choose to become your guardians then they will, but if you don’t want to, you don’t have to listen to them. You are still above them, I just wanted you to have someone there when I couldn’t be there. When Lucius can’t be there, when you need _help_ , because you will someday need help--”

    “You never needed help. Am I not _good enough_ ? Am I not good enough to be like _you_ ? Am I weaker? Is that what you thought about me, do you think I’m _weaker_ than you? Tell me! Tell me if you think I’m _weak_!” Hydrus was standing up on the bed, lording over Voldemort now.

    “No, I thought--”   
    “Of course, your thoughts are always right. You can never be wrong. Their isn’t a single flawed bone in your body. You’re not a God, you’re not perfect, and I am not weak, I am just as strong as you are.”

    “Interrupt me again and I will throw you in the dungeons and I don’t _think_ you would enjoy that very much,” that wasn’t Tom speaking, that was the Dark Lord, that was Voldemort, the most feared and powerful wizard in the world. He was no longer the person who loved Hydrus, he was the person who dealt with rude little minions. “Sit down!” He pulled Hydrus’ leg and watched as he fell unceremoniously onto the bed. Hydrus kicked him in the arm and pulled his knees back and pushed himself up against the headboard. “Don’t you _ever_ disrespect me like that again.”

      “What? Are you going to throw me in a cupboard? You gonna hit me?” Hydrus got off the bed and wobbled slightly before he steadied on his feet. He walked out of the room and slammed the door behind him. Voldemort followed him and grabbed his wrist. He cast a silencing bubble around them.

    “Where do you think you’re going?”

    “To the dungeons. Let me go.”

    “No. You’re going back to bed,” Voldemort picked Hydrus up and Hydrus struggled and fought with him.

    “Tom, do _not_ make me get inside your head. I swear to the Gods that I will ruin you!” Voldemort used an _incarcerous_ to bind him and stop his struggling. He dumped him on the bed and covered him up. He left the room and locked the door with too many spells to be normal. He didn’t even turn back to try and fight with him. He felt the sharp prodding of someone in his mind and he turned to the door.

    “Stop it, you’re going to hurt yourself!”

    “You bastard! Let go of me!” Hydrus was shrieking and he had wiggled himself onto the floor. He pushed himself up the bed he could and went to the door. “You let me go, right now! You come in and untie me. If you want to fight, I’ll duel you. I’ll win and you’ll have to apologize. You’ll apologize because _you’re weak_ ! Only those who are weak apologize and if you don’t apologize, when I’m healthy, I will rip into your mind so fast that you’ll be mush. You hear me? Mush!” Hydrus smashed his head against the door and fell back on the floor only to kick the door. He finally tired himself out before he fell asleep on the floor. Voldemort sat on the floor, his back against the door. He had heard Hydrus throw his temper tantrum and the banging on the door stopped and soft snores could be heard. Hopefully he had tired himself into a deep sleep so he could get well faster. He released the bonds around Hydrus before standing up and walking back down to his Inner Circle. He sat on his throne at the head of the table and stared at the back wall. Just his presence had scared everyone into silence and soon after he walked into the dining hall, people started to excuse themselves and bow to him, deep bows that put them on the ground, before they left the hall and went to their rooms. Nobody wanted to get on the bad side of their Lord, not when he looked like _that_ . It wasn’t like their fight had been very quiet either, but despite their politeness due to him ruling them, they were curious as to the cause of the fight. Eventually the entire hall cleared out and the house elves started to put food and chairs away with Voldemort’s dismissive gesture to just clear everything. He would find a way to do something with Hydrus, he couldn’t just keep him locked in his room for the rest of his life and now that he had publicly announced him as an ally, he needed him because people would be expecting a necromancer so they’ll be even more prepared to handle dark magic. He needed someone like himself that could preside over _their_ minions. Together. Now that he had enjoyed him, he didn’t want to think about losing him. Who would have thought that one of his ideas would be flawed? Nobody, because nobody dared to think or say things like that. Everyone but Hydrus apparently.


	6. Capitulate

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's more sex and more torture. Enjoy ;)

Capitulate 

[ _ kuh- _ **pich** _ -uh- _ leyt] 

_ Verb _

  1. To surrender unconditionally or on stipulated terms
  2. To give up resistance 



***

    Hydrus slept for two days, only waking up to let Lucius give him water. It wasn’t that Hydrus had rejected Voldemort helping him, but not even Voldemort wanted to see him, not with his rage still bubbling under his skin and not while Hydrus is still angry, as he found out through Lucius who had to listen to Hydrus complain about how he was keeping him ‘prisoner’. They had never had an argument about anything outside of schooling, but that was to be expected and encouraged. Questions were good, it meant that more was being learned. However this  _ fight _ was not sitting well with anyone, even people who weren’t directly involved. Lucius had gotten cursed so many time just for giving the information he had been ordered to give to Voldemort that he was downing three potions that counteracted the effects of the circuitous curse for two days straight. Each at a different time, and each just got more and more unpleasant the more and more damage it did to his body. Every time, the Dark Lord would dismiss him and step over him to go and sit in the duelling room and just argue with himself mentally. One side was insisting that he go and apologize to Hydrus, to let him know that he had thought that he maybe needed or wanted to be loved by a family. That he just wanted to give him everything he would have wanted when he was a child. How he had begged for a family, and they had always given him back because they didn’t like him. Nobody liked him. And that part of Voldemort was telling him that he was no longer wanted and that Hydrus was now a threat to him. He knew too much, was too powerful and he would turn on him. It reprimanded him for  ever getting so close to someone who had already hurt him. How could he ever believe he was right in his decision? He should have just killed Hydrus when he was Harry Potter, after he had gotten his body back. There was another part and that part wanted him to go back and try to comfort Hydrus, that he had a duty to fulfill and that was to protect and keep Hydrus safe, he was now his and he was going to stay his until one or both of them died (which was never). Yet another piece of himself was arguing over the rest. This piece wanted him to go out and forget about the boy, he was supposed to do his job and kill all the muggleborns, get rid of the muggles, he had too much to lose to be wasting his time on a child. The fifth part of himself was trying to get him to think logically. ‘Listen,’ it said as the female voice and feminine presence shushed the other voices. She was the voice of reason. ‘You need him to win. And you don’t have to give anything up. You can have both the boy and your wish to rule and refine the wizarding world. You just have to get over your  _ foolish _ pride and apologize. You don’t have to mean it, you should just do it to get what you want.’ He had to agree with that piece, she was very smart. Another piece wanted to hurt himself, why had he done something so stupid? He could have avoided all of this if he just payed more attention to his surroundings, if he could just ask people what they wanted, if he wasn’t so independent. It was good to trust people, it was good to have someone that you could rely on. It made sure to let him know that he didn’t have to be so independent, that he needed to compromise. That piece disappeared as he angrily made her go away. That was stupid, she was stupid and she was making him stupid. That was unacceptable. 

    There was the last piece of himself and it hurt. It wasn’t hurting with what he was feeling. It was hurting because Hydrus was hurt. It was a connection and he didn’t know if he should hate this piece or if he should cherish it. He wanted to have somebody, he wanted to be connected to someone, that was what he had wanted, someone he could understand. He was rubbish at understanding other people, he just didn’t know what to do. 

    He wanted to bang his head against a wall. Hydrus was fifteen! He was over seventy now, and he was acting like a dumb teenager. He would have started to bang his head against a wall if there hadn’t been a knock at the door.    
    “Enter,” he called out, trying to look dignified, as he sat against the wall with his knees drawn up, more like Hydrus had always acted rather than him. Lucius entered the room and he looked absolutely horrible. He bowed to his Lord. 

    “He is resting again. I gave him dreamless sleep so hopefully he will stay asleep for awhile at least. About twelve hours, or that’s what Severus said since he hasn’t taken it for a long time and never too much to become immune to it.” 

   “Good. You may go,” Lucius looked up. Was he not going to get hit with a curse. Voldemort looked up at him and caught his eyes. “Did you need something  _ else _ ?” The Dark Lord rose to his feet and drew his wand. Lucius bowed again. He hadn’t realized it but he was on the ground, half prepared for an attack and another half needing to somehow not seem intimidating, since he didn’t know why he became the curse target, he was just a messenger. 

    “No, my Lord,” he didn’t dare get up now. He hadn’t been dismissed and he knew that the Dark Lord was just trying to find something wrong to punish him for it. 

    “You are dismissed, you may go,” he said after several awkward minutes of furious silence. Lucius stood up, nodded his head and rushed out of the room. Screw his pride, he had been cursed six times in the past two days. He would lick the Dark Lord’s foot if it kept him from the pain of his nerve endings being burned and getting mismatched signals sent to every part of his body so fast that he was frozen in place as his brain tried to make sense of it all. No. He was out the door and through the floo as fast as possible. He cared about Hydrus, but Voldemort wouldn’t hurt Hydrus, Lucius on the other hand, well, he  _ wasn’t _ Hydrus and therefore he got the brunt of his rage. He hated it, but that was how it worked and he would rather avoid it and save himself some pain. Voldemort stalked around his castle. Of course, the escaped prisoners stayed in their rooms mostly. Everyone seemed to be avoiding him and he was fine with it. He wanted someone to do something wrong so he could share some pain but nobody was dumb enough to do something ridiculously horrible which could only be corrected with arguably the most painful curse in existence. 

    It has now been a week since the breakout and Hydrus hadn’t left his (their but Tom wasn’t going to walk into a fully healed necromancer's territory on bad terms. That was suicide and he didn’t want to have to find a new body or make another. He was powerful but that was too time consuming and Hydrus could find those pieces of his soul and kill them just as easily as he could kill his body) room. Voldemort wanted to go up to  _ their _ room and do something, anything!

    There was that voice:  _ you should have killed him before he was a threat _ . Well, he wanted to pummel that voice, that idea, whoever in his mind was thinking that because that is what put him in the entire mess in the first place. He had heard some of a prophecy and went after a baby in his insanity and got his body ripped away from his main soul piece and cast into some form of limbo. If that had never happened, if he had never wanted to ‘exterminate the threat before it became a threat’ he would could have killed the child on the way to Hogwarts on the Hogwarts Express or he could have gotten stronger and omnipotent, he could have become a God if he really had tried, but no, that voice telling him he should have killed Hydrus was wrong. It was a stupid idea and he couldn’t believe he was foolish enough to believe it the first time around. He wasn’t about to try anything now though, that was for sure, and he would definitely never admit to his own idiocy for his rushed actions of the past. 

    The Dark Lord rapped his fist against the door of the room that Bellatrix and Rodolphus were given and Bell opened the door, bowing. Rodolphus came to the door and bowed as well. They went so far as to kiss the hems of his robes. He enjoyed that, he really did, that’s why he had made his followers do it in the first place. I gave him power and he liked being powerful. He sighed. 

    “I need you to go and speak to Hydrus for me,” his words seemed bored and dismissive and the couple nodded.    
    “Of course, my Lord. Where is he at?” Bellatrix pulled a coat on. 

    “He’s on the third floor, the door all the way to the right,” he turned to leave them to talk to the child but he paused. “Oh, and tell him to have a Happy Christmas for me.” 

    Bellatrix led her husband up the stairs and she knocked on the door. She was told to enter and she peeked into the door and smiled at Hydrus who was sitting on the bed, staring down at the large pile of gifts left near the bed. She entered the room and Rodolphus followed her. Hydrus reached down and picked up a box. He didn’t pay the Lestranges any mind as he ripped into the box and he pulled out a silver bident. It glistened in the candlelight that flickered in the room and it was cool in his hand like metal was in a chilly house. He set it down beside him, schooling his features to look as disinterested as he could. He wanted to kill something or do anything. He didn’t want to sit in the perfectly soft bed in his lover’s (if he could call him that anymore) pretty robe. He looked up at Bellatrix and Rodolphus. He crossed his arms and crisscrossed his legs. 

    “Yes?” 

    “We wanted to apologize,” Rodolphus started, unsure what they were apologizing for, but it was a start. “For the trouble we’ve caused you.” 

    “And what trouble would that be,” Hydrus hid his amused, almost devious, smile and Rodolphus turned to look at his wife, panicked. She looked back just as caught off guard. 

     “Er, for… your troubles, my Lord?” Hydrus smiled and picked up another present before unwrapping it. This time is was a necklace with a skull, a real skull, for the pendant. The skull was not human, that would look ridiculous, but it was the skull of a bat. This was also from Tom, he sighed; he unclasped the necklace and fumbled with it until he hooked it on around his neck. He looked up at the people before him. 

     “Why were you nice to me? Are you afraid of me?” Hydrus leaned forward, his eyes narrowed, one was twitching wildly as his grin started to dissipate into a grimace. “No, you pity me, don’t you?” Nobody answered, “Don’t you!?” Bella’s wand was out and Rodolphus had his out and Hydrus looked up at them both. “Is this how you would treat the Dark Lord? I am not some  _ child _ ,” he knocked their wands from their hands as he stood up on the bed. Both of them got on their knees and bowed to the ground.    
     “Forgive us, my Lord,” Bellatrix and Rodolphus echoed each other but Hydrus couldn’t remain angry at them, but he wanted to. He fell down on the bed, bouncing back up and into a seated position. 

     “Get up,” Hydrus watched as they both got to their feet but they didn’t dare look at him. “Now, what were you sent here to tell me?” 

    “The Dark Lord asked up to tell you to have a Happy Christmas… he hasn’t left the duelling room, my Lord. Lucius has walked to the floo room, bleeding, at least twice a day for the past week. The Dark Lord has been very angry.” 

    “I see,” Hydrus stands up and walks to the door. He opens it and waves them out. They leave and rush back to their rooms. Hydrus could have laughed at how unintimidating they were. Those were the best death eaters? They were puppies and their tails were tucked firmly between their legs. Then again he had scared the crap out of Severus and Severus didn’t also have to fear Voldemort’s punishment nor did he have to worry about the use of wanded magic while he was safely tucked in the dungeons of Hogwarts. Well, Hydrus planned on giving himself and Voldemort a fun week, and they would spend it together, in the dungeons torturing and playing with their little traitor. Hydrus didn’t plan on going as  _ easy _ as he had gone on Karkaroff either. Karkaroff had been too easy, reduced to a crying, slobbering, pissy mess in less than seven hours. Hydrus might even invite Bella and her husband. They had been so nice to him so far, and should he have them take care of him, they better be able to keep up with his methods (he wanted to see what they were made of, what the ‘best’ constituted before he arrived). Ronald Weasley had nothing to protect him, nothing that wasn’t easily shredded, he had no will, no self-thoughts, he had fear and idiocy which just left him open and more vulnerable for attack. He had nothing to keep him from immediately turn to goop. He had only been under the attack for a minute or two and he was so destroyed that he wasn’t even ‘living’ anymore. What he was doing is much closer to just ‘breathing’ because there was no survival, he was destroyed and everything about him died in the process. Hydrus may have permanently damaged his soul, for all they knew nothing about him would ever be the same. 

    Hydrus walked down to the dueling room and a curse flew above his head as soon as he walked in. He put his hands on his hips. 

    “I swear to the Gods, Tom, if you had actually managed to land that shot you would be in  _ so _ much pain,” Hydrus sat down beside the Dark Lord and twisted his hands in his hands. “I’m not going to apologize. You’re not going to apologize either. Neither of us is weak enough to admit that we did something wrong. But that doesn’t mean we can’t find a way to dissolve the tension that will inevitably tear us apart. This is bound to happen and if you no longer need me, we may be able to fight fairly and on equal footing but we both know that ‘fair’ will never apply to us and just because we’re equivalent in the proficiency of our chosen skills doesn’t mean that we can defend each other’s attacks equitably. The battle would be vicious and it would likely destroy more than just us, and I know I’m assuming that I am as strong as you, but you look at me right now and honestly tell me that you’re  _ better _ than me,” Hydrus sighed. “Don’t answer that. I didn’t mean it. Fuck! That not what I wanted to say! I’m not weak! Fuck me, god dammit, sweet hell! I don’t know what I’m trying to say! You’re older than me, you do the talking!” 

    “I think that dissolved some tension,” Tom didn’t want to laugh but it didn’t stop him from smiling. “Sometimes I forget how young you are, but at the same time I never have the luxury of forgetting your age. I either expect too little and you get angry at me for assuming that you are ‘weak’ or I expect too much and you are hurt and I lose you. There is never going to be an easy way for any of this and there never has been, never will be, for any Dark Lord. If we were to fight right now, you would cripple me, but if you were restricted to dark magic, not necromancy, then I would obliterate you and no matter who dies, we are both too  _ dependent _ ,” he spit the word, almost as if it were the word ‘muggle’ or ‘weak’. “On each other and that does, in some ways, make us weaker,; it makes us vulnerable. There are pieces of me, they have been infused with other things, I can’t tell you much about them. Nobody knows besides myself and I will never let you know either,” he raised his hand when Hydrus’ mouth opened and his young lover’s mouth closed just as quickly as it opened. “It’s not because I don’t trust you, it’s because I don’t trust how horrible the world around us is. Perhaps, when we have nobody that is a threat to us, I will let you know, but if things continue this way, then you will  _ never _ know… I don’t have to protect you, I know this logically, but I want to and it makes me angry because I don’t like feeling like I’m vulnerable and you make me vulnerable. It’s not just a feeling I have, it’s the truth. You are, potentially, my downfall. There are very few death eaters than I trust with much, but when I asked for Bellatrix and Rodolphus to adopt you, I thought I was doing it to help you. I didn’t intend for you to think that I was trying to push you away from me because you’re a burden. You are not a burden, even when you were an annoying little brat, you were never a burden. You were  _ interesting _ , and in a purely professional sense you still fascinate me. I am quite curious as to what you can do when you grow into your full potential because no matter how much it ruins erotic moments when I am reminded by it, you aren’t even of majority.

    “I don’t say this to mock or undermine your current power, but I am doing the opposite. If you are already powerful enough to be a Dark Lord at such a young age, then how will you be once you finish maturing, when you have access to all the possible magic in your core. You would be… invincible, you could be omnipotent, a God. You already can take life just as quick as you can give it back. That’s not a gift any  _ human _ can get. I doubt you are purely human anyway and I have once you started to delve so deep into such a dark sort of magic. There are two races that practice magic besides humans and they have a natural affinity for such magic. The entities and creatures from the underworld, and the entities and creatures from the higher plane. 

    “I wanted you to have someone who could offer you the kinds of affection that I cannot give you. That Lucius cannot give you. That your toys at Hogwarts definitely can’t give you. The affection that I craved when I was your age, I wanted someone to love me unconditionally because they just did, not because they were my lovers, or because they made me feel nice sometimes. I wanted people to want me to be the best I could be and to protect me when nobody else was there to protect me because that’s what parents are supposed to do. I knew that Bella and Rodolphus wanted a child, someone to try and love,” he gave a soft chuckle, very unlike the Dark Lord, in manner. “They will  _ try _ to love you, but they are both rather dysfunctional but they are loyal and they aren’t just loyal to me, they are loyal to their family. You could be their family.” 

    “You’re my family. You’ve had me since I was eleven, you bought me clothes, a wand, you taught me how to wield magic, you taught me how to act, how to do  _ everything _ , you were my parent, my teacher, my lover, my friend, and I feel like you don’t want to do that for me anymore. Why do I need them? They are beneath you, they are beneath me. You are my family, I love you.” 

    “I don’t want you to grow older and resent me for not giving you all that you wanted all that you should have gotten, but they don’t need to think themselves anything besides our followers. If that is what you want, then I will happily give it to you.” 

    “Do you know what I want?” Hydrus stood up.

    “What? And sex is not an acceptable answer.” 

    “Good idea! We can definitely do that too, but I wanted to hunt myself a snake and hurt him. Not just any snake, a snake that slithered too close to our enemy. I can only think of one greasy potions master who has recently betrayed us, so I must be talking about him. Do you know any other slimy traitors, I would love to see them fear the pain that they see after each one of them is attacked.” 

    “How do you suppose we manage to get Severus here when you are now able-bodied. He is terrified of you, more so than me apparently,” Voldemort smiled and looked down at Hydrus with his own brand of cruel amusement. Hydrus reached up and held onto Tom’s shoulders, looking up with an equally sadistic grin. 

    “We tell him I’m sick of course, and when he comes to my aid, you stun him and we take him to the dungeons. You wouldn’t want me to die and he would have an ample opportunity to dose me with slow acting poison so he could leave before I die and he will be protected by the old man,” Hydrus stood up on his tiptoes and Voldemort bent down to place soft kisses on his lips. Soft and slow, not frenzied like they usually kissed, but it was nice despite being different from what they were both used to. 

    Hydrus was placed back in bed and Severus was called through the dark mark. Severus tried to resist the pull but it put him in so much pain he apparated to the Dark Lord. He bowed at the Dark Lord and saw his long, pale feet and perfectly angled toes (they were at a perfect slant which were odd compared to his otherwise distinct, and in some people’s opinion rather disgusting body). Voldemort told him to rise, and he hid his disgust in one of his followers, so pathetic that they could betray someone like him, behind indifference and boredom. 

    “Follow me Severus,” Voldemort led Severus up the stairs. “This is my lover, and he, although young, has been exhausted since the break out and we had thought it was simply because he had used to much magic. I’m very concerned,” he turned to Severus. “Do you understand the privacy that I am asking for, and the confidence I have in your abilities. If you fail me,” Voldemort smiled and poked Severus with his finger, a sharp nail piercing the flesh under the dour man’s robes. “I hope that you have found protection in a place very far away from me or you could just wait for death. This is of the utmost importance concerning your practice. Heal him or you will follow him into his sickness and I really don’t want to lose such an excellent potions master. Don’t force me to kill you,” Voldemort turned the ornate handle that led into their room before pushing the door open. Severus walked in first and saw a back but on the back of this person, there were runes. The same runes that he had tattooed, quite painfully, into Harry Potter’s skin four years earlier. Severus was a master of concealing his expressions, it kept him safe and it made him a great spy, it made him a great Slytherin. He got closer and set his potions bag on the bedside table. He had only a basic training in healing but he had worked enough in the healing field to correctly diagnose and prescribe potions to people. He reached out and ran his fingers over the tattoos. This was Harry Potter, there was no doubt about it. Voldemort slammed the door shut and Severus jumped. Turning to look at the Dark Lord whose smile hadn’t lost its eeriness. Severus turned back to the boy and when he spoke it sounded like Harry, who was this? What was happening?  _ Why _ was this happening?

    “Professor Snape,” there was a cough and a choked sob. “You left me in  _ his _ hands. He’s kept me locked away. You let him hurt me. Why didn’t you save me? You hated me so much you let me stay with a… a…” The boy sat up and Severus knew that this was Harry Potter, there was no other child. He was the right size, he had the same tattoos, it would make sense that the Dark Lord kept him prisoner. ‘Harry’ turned around and grabbed Severus by the throat and struggled with pulling him on the bed. Voldemort helped push Severus up on the bed. Hydrus threw a leg over Severus and laughed, pressing his hips down against Severus. “Hello Professor Snape. Did you forget about me? Harry Potter? Did you think he killed me? I am too important to just kill. I am too difficult to kill and I am strong. I am far more powerful than you. You were very foolish. Naughty, naughty boy, you were. Going to the old man. I hoped you enjoyed those little trances you fell into. Harry Potter, the Boy-Who-Lived-to-Love-The-Dark-Arts, and not only that, but I thoroughly enjoy my lover, the Dark Lord. I told you that my boyfriends would hurt you, did I not? Where is my precious Luci?” 

    “He’s already in the dungeon, he was quite picky about the conditions he would be spending the next week in, but it was more like he wanted to show you all the things he could give you… again. He spoils you so well, doesn’t he my little prince?” 

   “He does,” Hydrus slid down Severus’ body, resting his chin on his sternum and reaching up to hold the potions master’s cheeks in his hands. “But you gave me the best present, you gave me my own toy to play with. I always  _ break _ my toys, so I need new ones often. I wonder how long you’ll last professor. I give him a max of three days. Between our torturing, the brain melting sex, and all the little breaks that I want to take to let Severus try to recover himself so he has an actual chance of surviving a little longer than the others do, I think three days is a very likely estimate. I’m good at estimating these things, I have had  _ a lot of practice _ .” 

    “Harry? I… what happened? You’re dead.” 

    “Yes, Harry is dead. He had been for a while. I’m Hydrus now, but I think I want you to call me your Lord or you may call me by Asmodeus. If you really want to scream though, scream whatever name you like best. You have three options: Harry, Hydrus and Asmodeus. If I hear any other names come out of your mouth I will cut your tongue out and wear it as a necklace. If you try to speak again, I will start pulling teeth out, and if you still can’t keep your mouth shut, I will puncture a lung. You won’t die immediately and I’ll make sure to heal you right on the brink of death. You’re not scared of death though, are you professor? You’ve already felt your death and much more. This time I will be more creative. When I tortured Draco after I let him know how much I enjoyed letting his father make me feel all good inside, I had a wonderful idea for a death memory. I will, let me remember… cut you up into several pieces and then grind all your meat. That mush will be torn up by rabid animals and then you can feel how erosive stomach acid can be on your greasy body.” 

    “You don’t have to do this, please don’t do this. I tried to keep you safe, I tried, and I failed and I apologize but--”  

    “Don’t ever apologize. Apologies are for the weak. Only the weak admit to being wrong, we are  _ never _ wrong. We don’t make  _ mistakes _ , we simply get kinks thrown in our plans. Mistakes are easily chalked up to the universe trying to throw us a challenge,” Hydrus slid off of Severus and onto his feet on the floor. Voldemort petrified Severus and levitated him behind them as they went to the dungeons. 

    Always expect the best from Lucius. Their lovely politician was sitting on a rather nice chair before the mutually agreed on cell. Inside the cell, still chained to the back wall, were the remains of Igor Karkaroff. He wasn’t all rotted away yet, but the bugs were definitely helping the process along. Hydrus jumped on Lucius’ lap and wrapped an arm around his neck before watching as Severus was dropped into the cage, the door was then locked and then Severus was unpetrified. His first move was to stay a good inch or so away from the bars. Hydrus unbuttoned the top few buttons of Lucius’ robe. Lucius’ cane rested against the side of the chair and he hand idly stroked against the smooth silver serpent head while Hydrus licked and kissed his neck, unbuttoning buttons and happily taking advantage to the pureblood norm of not wearing clothes under their robes unless the robes were to be worn open. It was much like wearing a dress, but purebloods were raised wearing robes so they never faced the muggle prejudices and they were all too haughty to care about  _ filthy mudbloods  _ and  _ ignorant half bloods _ ’ opinions on them and their traditional and  _ correct _ views and customs in the wizarding world. Hydrus let out small noises as he kissed down Lucius’ chest, sliding a hand into his robe and running his fingers down his side. Lucius pulled on his hair by the roots and although his hands weren’t as spidery as Tom’s they were still strong and elegant. 

    “Lucius, that is wrong, he’s a child! Have you no decency?” When that didn’t stop his former friend, he tried something different, “He’s a halfblood. You wouldn’t stoop to fornicate with a halfblood!” Severus tried to stop his friend but Hydrus continued to pop the buttons out of their places, only exposing more alabaster skin with just the softest and lightest dusting of near white hair. Hydrus stood up, leaving Lucius resting against the chair, just waiting to take in the future torture that Hydrus would be inflicting. Although he had agreed to watching the abuse that his Hogwarts friend would have inflicted upon him, he came mostly due to Hydrus’ soft pleas and adorable insistence along with the promise of rough sex; he couldn’t deny his fallen angel.

    “You mean like you fucked me after I begged you for it. That’s what I told the headmaster anyway. He refused to report it despite it legally being required to be reported as soon as the allegation was made, even if there was reason to believe it was false. But that never went through. Oh! But professor, I had the entire pictured in my head. You were moaning and finally picked me up and bent me over your desk. You held my throat and told me to shout your name. I did and your thrusts got harder and faster. You love it when I called you by your name, when I hissed it.  _ Oh, Sssseverussss _ ! Of course, as you should have been, you felt so embarrassed after you soiled me with your seed, you sent me away. I told him how much happier I felt when I was around you, but it was clear the old bastard didn’t believe me. I know he could see right through my act because he was informed of who I am. You told him that I was Lord Asmodeus. You told him and that is when you were obviously a traitor. You could have saved yourself if you had the decency to keep such a dangerous secret to be kept just that: a  _ secret _ . You didn’t though, and I knew as soon as you started telling the old coot, I felt my magic reaching out to attack you. I couldn’t kill you though, I had to stay inconspicuous but I couldn’t. I hurt the ‘saviour’ because he was talking about me, about Harry Potter. I hate Harry Potter, he was weak, he was too weak to save himself from  _ muggles _ , he couldn’t do anything, but now I’m so much better than you. Especially better than you,” Hydrus gripped the bars on the cell wall and Severus took a step backwards. He turned around when he heard the rattle of chains. He glared down at the decomposing, bug infested corpse of Igor, the traitor. This was what he was. Dead. A traitor. He was going to be tortured. He didn’t want to break because he was prideful, but he wanted to break so he didn’t have to suffer for more than necessary. He wasn’t sure which part was outweighing the other, and he wasn’t sure that either plans would work. With the Dark Lord and Lord Asmodeus, he was surely going to suffer in extremely horrible conditions as well as with severe wounds and then he didn’t even want to think of what Hydrus had done to Ronald Weasley. He had been Harry’s friend and Hydrus was Harry, so why he had felt justified to hurt him exceeded the professor. 

    “How crude,” Lucius offered with a smile as he watched Hydrus flick his wrist, his wand left the holster against his forearm and rested in his hand. The entire holster was easily seen as they were burnt reddish-black dragonhide straps that connected all the way from his wrist to his elbow. That was the only thing on his torso or arms but he wore a pair of baggy pants that hung around his legs like a skirt with all the excess fabric, and it pooled around the floor when he stood still or dragged across the floor as he walked. Their little devil had a taste for the dramatic and was always trying to outdo himself. 

    “Can you blame me, I tried to show him what I could give him. I sucked on his fingers but I also started to make his body decay, in his head anyway. He pulled away. Would you pull away from such a sinful mouth, Luci?” 

    “Never,” Lucius crossed his legs and Voldemort hovered beside Hydrus. 

    Hydrus pointed his wand at Severus and before the man could please once again in another attempt to have them release him he was hit with a curse he had never heard but whatever it was it brought him to his knees. He felt tears running down his face but when he went to wipe tears away his fingers were covered in blood. He looked up at the angel before him but that was not the face of any angel. Angels weren’t cruel and evil, angels didn’t  _ sin _ but all that Hydrus seemed to do was sin. 

    “Would you like me to kiss it better, Severus?” Hydrus put his wand back in his holster against his forearm and he reached an arm, not the one with his holster and wand, into the cell and waved for Severus to come to the bars. Once Severus came close enough, Hydrus struggled to drag Severus closer to him. “Come to the bars, press your face against the bars and I’ll lick your wounds,” Severus hesitantly put his face against the bars and closed his eyes. He felt a warm tongue lick up the trails of blood on his cheeks and his arm shot out of the cage and he tried to grab the wand attached to Hydrus’ arm while the boy was busy literally licking his wounds. Hydrus pulled back and sat back on his heels. “That was very rude. I offer to take away your pain and you try to grab my weapon. Are you so scared that you would steal my only defense against you? What would you do with my wand? Would you  _ kill  _ me?” Hydrus stood up and ran a hand up the Dark Lord’s chest and moaned, “I think he would kill me. How I want someone to kill me. I would let you have your wish but I am still needed. You however your use has run out.” 

    Hands touched Hydrus everywhere. There were four soft hands on him. He was sandwiched between Tom and Lucius and they couldn’t stop themselves from letting their fingers trail everywhere along his torso. There wasn’t an unexplored piece of skin anywhere that lacked clothing. He moaned and pushed his hips forward against Lucius who pulled away from Hydrus only to transfigure the chair he had been sitting in into what it had originally been (before transfigured into a rock to carry down into the dungeon and then a chair while he waited for his lovers): a rather large bed, but still small enough to fit in the dungeon, in the unbarred cell that had been transformed into a room of all the torture devices of the past. Severus gripped the bars, his knuckles turning white. What was happening?! He was still so utterly lost. Lucius, this was  _ not _ the Lucius he knew and the Dark Lord was only using Hydrus, he was only using Harry, why didn’t the boy see that? Severus opened his mouth but he closed it when Hydrus pushed down the stretchy waistband of his pants and then stepped out from them. He wore nothing under them, he didn’t need to, the pants were so comfortable and he had already planned what he wanted to do. Hydrus left Voldemort to Lucius and both older men, rested against the bed while Hydrus walked to Severus and he cast Voldemort’s favourite curse, the cruciatus, but he had also cast so many more, some of which Severus had created himself. When Hydrus let Severus fall down from being suspended in the air, he got on his knees in front of the bars. He summoned Severus closer to him and he reached out to wipe his fingers over the bleeding wounds over Severus’ head since his thick clothes hid most of the other wounds, but his robes were now quite tattered. 

    Hydrus lifted his blood stained fingers to his lips and sucked on the in a purely obscene manner. He leaned forward, pressing his face against the bars and let out a low moan before his eyes opened and connected with Severus’ eyes. Soon there was a film over his eyes similar to the film one gets after death and his head tilted to the side as he poked into Severus’ head and then he went deeper into his mind. He easily bypassed the occlumency barriers that had been set up. It wasn’t that he wasn’t affected by them, it was that they weren’t shielding the memories saved in the soul but rather the mind. He had to look into eyes because the eyes are the soul, at least he had to enter through the eyes, he could continue to tear through someone’s mind after they pulled back because he had already gotten access. What did Severus fear most? What was the thing that hurt him more than anything had hurt him before? Oh, he was abused by his father. His mother was indifferent and didn’t much care for him. And Lily Potter… he loved her. Feelings of hidden longing and distant admiration flooded Hydrus’ senses as the dug deeper in Severus’ mind. Severus was holding his head in his hands, he was choking back sobs and screams while his eyes closed tightly, leaving his face wrinkled with all sorts of negative emotions but most noticeable was the extreme amount of pain he was in at that moment. Hydrus pulled back, he had much more control over his abilities when he wasn’t fuelled to attack due to emotions, or he didn’t attack as an emotional defense. 

    “Lily Evans, Lily Potter…” Hydrus said while Severus continued to pull out his hair, trying to focus on some other sort of pain, anything to distract the still bleeding walls of his memories. “You loved her and Voldemort killed her and that’s why you lost faith, why you sold yourself to a second master.” 

    “She was your mother, how can you be so close to your mother’s murderer? How could you possibly help him? How could you have such flippancy for what Lily sacrificed herself for?”

    “How could you carve runes into my back? He was defenseless yet you offered him anyway. A poor little boy. What if he had killed him? What does it matter that I used to be Harry Potter? He is dead now,  _ I _ am not  _ him _ . You never cared about him anyway and you could care less about me,” Hydrus frowned and picked up Severus’ wrists, he summoned a rope and tied them together. Hydrus waved Tom over and he walked to the cage, pulled a hook from the ceiling, which was a black abyss that likely hid all sorts of horrific devices meant only to bring excruciating pain to their victims, and he lifted Severus up by his bound wrists before easily dropping the rope over the hook, hanging Severus up. It was so high above them that Severus couldn’t touch the ground, he could, with the tips of his toes, but it hurt the sockets his arms were being forced from due to gravity and the weight of his body not being supported enough with his weak and practically useless arms. “Nippy.” 

    “What can Nippy be doing for Master Asmodeus, sir?” Nippy popped in and did as she had for the past four years. Hydrus wasn’t sure if he wanted to take his eyes off the bleeding potions master to look at Nippy, sure to see how terrified she was with their activities, or if he wanted to look at Voldemort and Lucius who were likely waiting for him to be dripping blood so they could lick it off of him. 

    “Can you bring me the box in my room that I tell you to never clean out or look into. Also, I would like… a burgundy wine glass,” Nippy popped out and got the items requested and popped back into the dungeon. Hydrus turned to look down at Nippy and took the large porcelain box from the house elf and set it down at his feet before taking the wine glass from her. “Thank you, you may go,” with a pop, Nippy was out as fast as she arrived. Hydrus didn’t like terrorizing the house elves and they all knew what he did in the dungeons but many of them didn’t pay much mind to it. Nippy had been his designated and frequented house elf since she tended to him his first day at Riddle Manor. She, although having witnessed much messier and more brutal tortures, still was uncomfortable around him when he was in this sort of ‘mode’. Hydrus set the wine glass done with a soft clink of crystal tapping against the rough stone floors under their feet. The box that Hydrus picked up into his arms was porcelain and was accented with intricate lace-like patterns except they were created with thin golden sheets. On top of those sheets were thick golden patterns that looked almost like ornamental leaves (as opposed to realistic leaves). On the white, nearly blue, top and sides of the box were delicate roses that rose off of the porcelain only a little and if one was to run their fingers over the flowers it would feel cool and silky under their fingers as if they were stroking real petals. 

    Flipping the lid open, the Dark Lord looked over Hydrus’ shoulder and down at the assortment of all sorts of cruel but beautifully crafted knives and other things that could easily cut and puncture skin. Like a jewelry box, there were many little drawers that could be pulled open along the sides as well as the lid lifting to show shallow storage space. Inside were several magically made ‘scalpel’ blades for thin precision that sometimes thicker wands were too bulky to use safely. They works like wands, their bodies were made of wood and inside that wood there was a core but the tip pointed into thin metal pieces. All metals were magically correspondent with the wood and cores of the handles. Hydrus however didn’t use them for magical precision in knife work, although he did have fun carving perfect designs into victims, rather he used them since he didn’t like muggle-made things but he knew that the muggles had good ideas. They were the sharpest and most accurate blades the world had to offer, but he also pulled out a drawer and wrapped his fingers around the handle of the same knife used to carve his tattoos when they gave the Dark Lord his body back. He set the box down and held up the common yet so personal knife. He started by opening the cell that Severus was hung up in. He slit the sides of Severus’ sleeves until they fell, as they were ripped open, and he could cut the sleeves up all the way. He crudely brought the knife up across the buttons, cutting them from the robe, as if he were gutting an animal. He let out a soft grunt and he made a display of cutting the last button holding the robe on Severus’ body. The robe was discarded behind Hydrus as he violently threw it to the floor. He slit the sides of the vest that his potions professor wore and then let those pieces of fabric fall off of him and gather in two piles behind and in front of his feet. 

    “Aren’t you going to beg me professor? Say anything? You are far too quiet. Have you already been silenced?” Severus didn’t answer. “What a pity.” 

    “You’re going to kill me whether I beg or not. What’s the point of ruining my pride in the process of already horribly degrading torture?” Severus got a knick of the blade against his neck, just enough to make one trickle of superficial blood to run over his collar. Hydrus did a similar move to the buttons of the shirt that Severus was wearing as he had done to the potions master’s robe. He cut up the sleeves that cinched at the wrists, likely to prevent any fabric getting caught or tainting during the creation of a potion. Such a simple man with simple robes and simple, singular ideas of what  _ could _ happen. 

    “I’m not going to kill you. And neither are they. I said they were going to kill you, it doesn’t mean they’ll actually do it, you silly man,” Hydrus pulls the shredded shirt off of Severus’ body and throws it behind him, it floated to rest against the mangled robe. There were holes in the knees of his trousers from where he had scratched them against the gritty stone floor and there was blood running onto the fabric of his pants. There were gashes, large slices in the skin of his knobby knees and Hydrus scratched his fingers over the coagulated blood to keep it flowing. He couldn’t reach all the way up to his arms but all the small little wounds that littered Severus’ body were reopened as Hydrus dragged his nails, blunt fingertips really, over the wounds and pulling at the skin which stopped the blood from coagulating and stopping the flow; they all reopened and started dribbling blood rather pathetically. Hydrus licked at some of the sounds he could reach before reaching up to Severus’ collarbones. He ran his bloody fingertips over the prominent bones before he pushed the knife up into a position where he could wield his blade. Unlike the knick on Severus’ neck that had been reopened only enough to continue a weak trickle of blood, Hydrus slid it along the bone, all the way down to the bone, scraping the osseous tissue which brought forth a flood of blood. Severus glared down at his attacker but he couldn’t do anything to defend himself. He had a limited skill with wandless magic and nothing he could use could kill someone, but he wasn’t sure if death would truly stop Hydrus and if it did, he would still be faced with the Dark Lord and Lucius to finish what their lover started. 

    Lifting the wine glass to the gash, Hydrus leaned down and caught the blood that ran away from the glass, the blood that wasn’t collected. Once the glass was filled he used his wand and a basic healing charm to stop the flow of blood. If he lost too much blood he wouldn’t be very fun to play with but if he didn’t close the wound it would certainly continue to hurt. Hydrus pulled his hand through the blood that covered the right side of his body and slapped the hand onto his own chest and smeared it across his skin. He brought his fingers to his mouth and turned, walking back to the bed taking up the entirety of the opposite cell. Hydrus stood at the foot of the bed. 

    “May I get on the bed, Luci? Am I allowed to stain these sheets?” 

    “You may,” Hydrus got on the bed, keeping his feet off the sheets until Lucius slid his hands under his arms and pulled him back. It always made Hydrus laugh when Lucius did that to him, and even more so knowing that it was because Lucius hated feet (and absolutely abhorred dirty feet). The bottoms of Hydrus’ feet were indeed covered with the grime from the floors in the dungeon and the tops were spattered in little patterns of blood. Voldemort was on Hydrus’ right while Lucius was on his left and both were leaning over Hydrus, paying attention and leaving lovely love-bruises along his neck. They were very different, and Hydrus liked it when they gave him love marks. He could look in the mirror and tell who had been where on him. 

    Severus had given up with trying to convince his friend that this was  _ wrong _ . What was happening, all of it, was horribly demented. He wanted to think that his friend, the man who had protected him to the best of his ability during school, the man who introduced him to the Dark Arts, would somehow remember all that they had done together, everything that had happened and he would release him, but he knew that Lucius wouldn’t go against the Dark Lord. Not intentionally and if he did, he was much smarter than Severus apparently, and would stay hidden but never give himself away, never take anybody as harmless. He had been too trusting, he hadn’t thought about it at every angle, he was weak and if he had only done as a good death eater had done and said that the Dark Lord was right and the dark mark was an  _ honour _ . There was no honour in this. They killed and tortured people, how was any of that  _ honourable _ ? It was just  _ horrible _ and  _ evil _ . He was a bitter and mean man but never in his life had he been evil, never had he done the things that he had seen so many of his peers do, the levels they stooped to in the name of some insane dictator. Now, his charge, the boy he had been mean to but only to protect him, he had pushed him away. He had thought that he had a great life, that he was loved, that he was taught of their world. He had been annoyed at his, what he thought to be, arrogance. He was wrong, so wrong and honestly, he trusted far too blindly. That is why he was hung up like a dead animal awaiting slaughter. Maybe ten feet away from him was the Dark Lord, the man he once agreed with and thought was so very right in his opinions and his cause, and his friend, if he could even consider him that anymore, who had helped make Severus into who he was. Both of those people were beguiled by a fifteen year old boy, a mere child, and Severus knew how cold he had become, there was no way that Hydrus, Harry, or whoever else he was, could feel anything remotely similar to care for either of his elders. He wasn’t capable of something like that, no. He was bound to, once he realized he was much stronger than the Dark Lord, overthrow everyone and rule with even crazier ideas than the current Dark Lord. 

    All the blood that had covered Hydrus’ chest had been thoroughly licked and sucked from his skin and, like vampires, they all only let the blood, the power and life in their hands and over their bodies, arouse them further. Hydrus turned and sat up on his knees before pushing Lucius on his back before straddling his hips. Lucius’ entire body was so streamlined, he was perfectly shaped for Hydrus’ shorter legs to comfortable hold his form between them. Lucius’s upper torso was bent up as he rested on an array of equally as pristine pillows. He was framed like an angel, he was Lucifer, he was the most gorgeous angel and he was pure sin. Temptation, desire, immorality. Hydrus wanted it all, and he got what he wanted, especially from Lucius (the man made sure that he was always more than satisfied with his luxury). The Dark Lord was resting on his side, dragging a fine-pointed nail over Lucius’ side in random lines and shapes, his eyes focused on the faint lines of pink and red growing from his  _ sharp attention _ . 

    “Nothing to say, Severus?” The Dark Lord asked amused, but only slightly as he was also very focused on two enticing and passionately heated bodies, so he wasn’t minding too much attention to Severus, but he had missed the shouts of how immoral they all were and how wrong it all was.  _ Wrong _ . A funny word. The Dark Lord was  _ never _ ‘wrong’. 

    “No, my Lord,” Severus’ arms ached as they had been slowly pulled out of their sockets and his legs hurt from his desperate attempts to push himself up so his arms wouldn’t grow completely useless. None of his efforts worked and he wondered for a moment if they would just keep him down in the dungeons after they were doing enjoying themselves or if the brat had planned everything out like a sadistic little bastard. The Dark Lord’s wand raised and pointed at Severus. He cast the cruciatus curse and Severus’ body tensed. It was painful and when he had thought that the numbing of his body was painful when Hydrus had rapidly decayed his fingers, or when his arms grew roten, he thought how much stronger and how much more painful the Dark Lord’s curse was. But the Dark Lord caused people to fear him because they didn’t want to be hurt, they didn’t want to go through pain. Hydrus was different, he would rather suffer pain from an Unforgivable compared to being so completely terrified and utterly helpless. There wasn’t any way to stop the attacks of such a Dark Wizard. Or that knowledge was hidden, lost or difficult to learn.

    Voldemort sat up and leaned to the side of Hydrus, he pressed his lips against his shoulder and back across his shoulder blades that were poking out from him back just so. Hydrus giggled and reached one arm back to hook around Tom and another pressed against Lucius’ chest, his fingers brushing against what little hair was on Lucius’ chest. He was rather defined for an older man, they tend to get squishy after they age, but he was well into his forties and was still as nice as ever. His hands reached up to grab Hydrus’ waist. His hands were large and they were soft as if he had never done any manual labor his entire life, and his fingernails were trimmed and they shined as they had a layer of clear polish on them. Hydrus moved his hand from Lucius’ chest and grabbed his wrist. He brought it down to his length, he had gotten hard at the thought of torturing their traitor but he was fully erect, his member pressed up against his stomach where it dribbled cum as he had been cleaned by his lover’s tongues. He could feel Lucius through the soft, eggplant trousers he wore and he could also sense Tom’s hands on the sides of his rib cage and ghosting over his chest until svelte fingers pinched his nipples. 

    It wasn’t that he couldn’t believe his eyes, because he was sure that this was nothing new to the Dark Lord. The man, if he could even be considered that, had no morals, didn’t know what was right or wrong. He kept thinking that, about the wrongness of the situation and he started by closing his eyes, if he could just focus on anything else, if he focused purely on the pain in his arms, on the stinging wound at his collarbone, he could be in ignorant bliss of the actions across the cell from him, but Hydrus’ lewd moans and obscene words only got more visualization in his mind, and when he heard such things his own picture started to form and it was lecherous and it made his skin crawl. He wasn’t sure if what he felt was good or bad but he knew that he didn’t want to feel it anymore and he almost felt disgusted with himself rather than appalled at their behaviour. He opened his eyes to be affronted by Hydrus arched forward, the bones of his spine poking out and distorting the tattoos that he had placed. Oh how he regretted his decisions and how he was reminded of how he had gone about his choices: choosing the criminal path. He was so revolted by his actions and it rivalled the repulsion he felt towards the scene before him. Hydrus moaned as he impaled himself on Lucius who could only stare up at the boy whose face was so magnificent in his lust. 

    “So precious,” both older men said before Hydrus let out a choked laugh as Lucius thrust into him. He buried his face against Lucius’ shoulder. Lucius’ manicured hands stroked Hydrus. Teeth bit into his shoulder and Hydrus felt blood start to flood into his mouth. It wasn’t as bloody as a clean cut would produce but it was enough to lap at and was just painful enough to hurt Lucius without horribly maiming him. 

    Hydrus looked up to the side and took Tom’s mostly untouched member between his lips. Tom’s fingers found their way into Hydrus’ hair and he pulled it as he guided him. Hydrus pulled away from Tom and met with Lucius’ thrusts. Lucius, so dignified, stayed mostly quiet and stoic until he grunted lowly as he exploded within Hydrus. Hydrus let Lucius moved him off of him and onto his back. He pulled his legs up where Tom took his place and pushed inside of their young lover. Hydrus licked his drying lips and cleaned Lucius’ length before he let Tom grip his hips as roughly as he always held him. It wasn’t too much longer, just the squelching sounds that were created heightened the heat, they all felt, in the air. Hydrus was young and he was still able to have erections one after another and by the time Tom had spilled in him, he was once again aching and demanding their lovely hands to touch him wherever and however they wanted. 

    Eventually, they all rested in bed, feeling completely boneless. Staring up at the cracking dungeon ceiling above them. Hydrus rested on his back, he let one of them, he wasn’t sure which one, cast the cleaning charms on them and there were two arms thrown over his body, Tom’s arm across his shoulder and Lucius’ at waist height. Hydrus closed his eyes, pushing his cheek against the linen pillowcase.    
    “Don’t think I’ve forgotten about you, Severus,” Hydrus called out, only to remind Severus that he was still doomed. The dour potions master knew one thing, he may not be dying but he would never be able to see or do anything the same way again. Not just because of their distressing releases like animals in heat, but because the cut in his arm. He would never be able to make potions the same, he had cut through the muscle and it was just started to really get through to him that if Hydrus didn’t kill him, he may just take his life himself. If he couldn’t make potions then he was truly no use to the Dark, he wouldn’t be able to teach at Hogwarts and he wouldn’t be able to support himself by creating potions. He would be utterly alone, helpless, penniless and on so many blacklists that he was sure he would be hunted down if he didn’t just do the smart thing and off himself. 

    Torture continued for about twelve hours after they had all slept in their bed as if they weren’t in a dungeon with a man hung like a slab of meat across from them. Hydrus got up and got right back to work, not even bothering to dress himself. He didn’t need clothes to cause pain and he wasn’t uncomfortable when he was nude like the people who came up with the idea of nudity equally indecency. It was nonsense. Severus finally started crying, not because of the pain but because Hydrus had plucked out his memories and watched them alongside Severus. Lily was the person Severus loved and she was also going to be the key in his downfall. By the second day, a full twenty-four hours since Severus was brought to the dungeons, Severus was mostly physically disabled. When Hydrus cut someone, unless he was cutting his lovers during sex, he cut down to the bone and that ripped through muscle and hurt immensely. Severus was left with one normal arm and his legs were functional enough to walk but there were other things that were shredding. At some point, Hydrus had cut into the flesh below the sternum and poked the heart that was still beating in Severus’ chest. He healed him with a healing spell that would only stop the flow of blood. It left him susceptible to infection and other illnesses since he was sure his immune system had been completely destroyed by all the abuse it was taking by fighting off all the entered illness and oncoming infection from all the gaping wounds he had on his body. 

    One thing that Hydrus didn’t do, which was odd to Severus, was cut his hair. He pulled it back and tied it with a ribbon before doing much more around his neck, which he did several things include branding him with a glowing hot House ring for some family that he didn’t even want to think about. Likely the Potters and it was a disgrace that he carried such a brand and it would be worse if he carried the coat of arms for the House of Black. By the third day, Severus was slipping into unconsciousness and lucidness which was very unpleasant. Hydrus had the Dark Lord lower Severus for him and Hydrus used what knowledge he had on healing to fix Severus up to the best of his ability. He levitated the man behind him after petrifying him. He was rested out on a lounge chair and Narcissa came to heal and tend to Severus’ wounds. Hydrus sat next to the creation he had made, the piece of art that he had created on Severus, his canvas. Narcissa was terrified when she saw what Hydrus had done but she didn’t let it show, it wouldn’t do her well in the long run to show fear rather than what she had always shown him, some form of maternal love due to his age and because he was so similar to Draco in age. 

    Severus was left to sleep on the lounge, still petrified and by morning, he was unpetrified and handed a shirt. His arms had painfully been relocated and his fingers and hands seemed to be functioning fine but just how well were they. Would they still be able to perform the delicate processes in order to brew potions. He hoped so but he wouldn’t know until he went back to try. 

    Being thrown into the floo and forcefully flooed back to Malfoy Manor, and then Hogwarts as he had always done, was unpleasant to say the least. He felt like a glorified ragdoll but at the same time he was sure that a ragdoll would get better treatment than what he had received. It was all his fault though. Everything was his fault and he wasn’t being self-deprecating either, he was simply telling it like it was. He was the reason, the only reason, for the mess he was in. They were  _ his choices _ , and nobody else could make them for him, so it was all on him. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've decided to add some Creature Harry. It's been an idea of mine for this story since the beginning but I wasn't sure how I was going to do it, but I know what I would like to do and how I would like to continue this story so yeah. Just a forewarning.


	7. Precocious

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There is a 'Greek' translation in this chapter. I honestly and wholly apologize if it isn't correct. If anyone knows Greek (like actual Greek and not my crappy translator work) and can help me correct the translation (so it can be as accurate as possible), I would be very appreciative. I used an online translator, but of course, we know that such things on the internet aren't entirely accurate and are often incorrect. I felt that it was important for this phrase, this result, to be in Greek, and that is why I used that despite not knowing the language. I do not mean to butcher such a nice language, I promise, and if I hadn't felt it necessary to use it, I would avoid it just to avoid being ignorant. However, I do not doubt my decision to keep these two sentences in the story. 
> 
> Okay, so besides that, this is the first chapter where we see creature Harry. I'm unsure of what else I want to do, so this fic is up for change and may change a lot just to suit what whims I have suddenly. The story will hopefully remain as flowing as possible but like I said, it's content is subject to change. The only thing that will stay the same is well, all that is in the past chapters. Hydrus will not suddenly be sweet or nice nor will he suddenly find sex unnecessary. Severus will not become a ball of joy, and things like that. Nothing like that will happen but some things will be added (which means things will stay the same but there will be new things nothing will be taken away). 
> 
> I don't mean to make anyone feel dumb though either. I'm just being thorough in my explanation as to avoid confusion in the future. 
> 
> Someone had a really good idea to make Hydrus an angel in some form of twisted irony, but sadly that didn't happen. I gave it serious thought but I just had so much written in this chapter and I think I like what happened. It's a little obvious but it's also not because what he is thought about and what he actually is isn't the same, there's an explanation in the story better than I can explain here but I think what he is can be considered a form of angel as they do help a God, several Gods, but they aren't from the clouds like angels are. 
> 
> Anyway... Enjoy.

Precocious

[pri- **koh** -sh _ uh _ s] 

_ Adjective _

  1. Unusually advanced of mature in development, especially mental development
  2. Prematurely developed as in the mind, faculties, etc. 
  3. Of or relating to premature development 



***

    Two sets of strong arms wrapped around him and took him back to the Dark Lord’s bed. It was almost the New Year and his lovers were still showing him how much they enjoyed watching him mutilate their traitor. Although the Dark Lord and Hydrus had been in a much better mood, many of the inner circle and highest ranked death eaters stayed in the sanctuary of their rooms coming out for food and drink at most and as infrequent as possible. Of those, Bellatrix and Rodolphus seemed to be the most afraid. It amused Hydrus greatly that the two fiercest, and self admittedly most loyal, death eaters were going out of their way to avoid him. There weren’t many meetings due to everyone settling in, but everyone knew once Hydrus was back at Hogwarts, things would start running as they had back before Hydrus caused the downfall of their Lord. 

    Currently, however, Hydrus was being denied the ability to touch either one of the men who were ravishing him. His hands were securely chained to the transfigured headboard and all of his fingers grew tense and bent and twitched every time he felt a sharp bite against his thigh or when, whichever one wants to torture his torso, they tug on his nipples. They were being rather tame, but they also didn’t want to fall asleep until after midnight which would be a few hours yet. Hydrus didn’t want to wait that long to come but he also know that he couldn’t bring on either of his lovers’ release because they were older and probably wouldn’t be able to go for a second round. He almost wanted them to force Severus back so he could brew them some stamina potion or something. He wasn’t going to consciously compare either Lucius or Tom to the boys at his dorm, but he was going to give them credit for their youth because it was very enjoyable to have someone match what you can do and take. If only there was some way to stimulate them despite their bodies’ age. Age. It was always causing the three of them trouble. They were literally all from a different generation and it was rather odd, but it was so good at the same time, all of it, and everything about them allowed him to experience so many excellent things. 

    They had coaxed Hydrus to spill himself twice by midnight and while Tom was always so pleased with asserting his dominance, while Lucius was honestly more amused by everything and didn’t mind which position he ended up as long as he got to see how beautiful Hydrus looked as he yields to pleasure. How he adores Hydrus, despite him being the same age as his son, he feel little qualms about having him. Hydrus was nothing like Draco or any of the spoiled brats that were normal teenagers; while Hydrus’ body may be young, he was brilliant and wise as if he were truly much older. Likely from the knowledge he had and the experiences he had when it came to death and fear, but he was quite mature if the constant desire for sex was taken out of the equation (which was very much like a fifteen year old, but how many teens could say that they really got as much arse as Hydrus?) At midnight Hydrus’ face changed, his entire body tensed but it wasn’t in the abandon he had previously. His skin rippled as if he were on the polyjuice potion. Tom sat back and Lucius also pulled back. Both men, although different heights, towered over his body and he pulled at his chains, this time they were released and he started to scratch at his chest until he pulled off layers of skin. Underneath there was more skin but along his hips little purple-black feathers started to sprout out of his skin, a soft blanket of feathers covered the tops of his shoulders and then there were patches of little feathers, but that wasn’t all. On his hands, his nails grew black and like bone, burnt bone. He only ripped his skin off and scratched the skin off to reveal more feathers. He was crying, unlike he had ever cried before. He hadn’t cried in pain since he was a young child, until after he realized that crying wasn’t going to help him any. He cried out of anger, out of intense sadness or shame, but not then. Then, he felt like he was being burnt from the outside and fire creeped up his body. 

    This wasn’t comfortable, sexy heat. It was agony and suddenly it passed and it felt as if the fire was put out he was emerged in cool water. It wasn’t entirely unpleasant but when his eyes focused he saw the horrified looks on his lovers’ faces. He pulled himself up to sit and then he drew away from them. 

    “Stop looking at me like that,” he bit out, literally biting through his tongue with teeth that were too sharp to be normal. Lucius looked down at his hands and Tom didn’t know what to do with his hands so he put them beside him on the bed, still not comfortable and caught completely off guard. Tom didn’t like being surprised with anything, and this was definitely surprising. “Do either of you know what happened?” 

    “It appears that you’ve perhaps grown into some creature trait,” Lucius offered not very helpfully, “an inheritance perhaps?” 

    “That happens on the day of birth, not on the beginning of the New Year,” Tom didn’t glare up at Lucius, although he wanted to. He didn’t think that giving dirty looks would help them figure anything out and therefore it wasn’t important. “This may be anticlimactic but perhaps we just need to look into what could cause this. There is an extensive library here at the Castle and if we need anything from the Manor one of us, not you Hydrus, could go and pick it up.” 

    “Alright,” Hydrus had been more than looking forward to spending the night in a semi-permanent state of bliss, but hey, research is the next best thing. He couldn’t hide his distaste for having to do  _ things _ that weren’t what he wanted to be doing on his New Year. He had to go back to school in a week and he knew that they wouldn’t get another moment for any of this unless he begged and tried to reason with them. Neither men were very easily shown reason once they started on something that they had plans to do or something that interested them, and their interest was no longer on Hydrus but on what happened to him doing his strange transformation. Hydrus continued to scratch his shoulders and sighed when he pulled his hand back and soft semiplume feathers were revealed. He just hoped that he wasn’t sprouting wings anytime soon. That would likely be horrifically painful and he didn’t feel like crying again unless it was because he was on the brink of ecstasy. 

    Hydrus pulled on a silk dressing robe and was the first one in the library. By the time Lucius and Tom made themselves presentable, Tom entering thirty minutes after Hydrus but an hour before Lucius, Hydrus was asleep in the large plush chair. He was curled up and poking out from under his relatively long and sinuous hair, where little horns that looked similar to the odd bones that had grown to point into large claws over his hands. Lucius summoned a house elf to get a blanket and he rested it over Hydrus who quickly dug his claws right into the fabric as if it was butter and his claws were a piping hot, burning red, knife. Both elders looked worried; those claws were going to be rather dangerous and with Hydrus, who saw everything as a weapon or dirt to use as a weapon, he was going to have too much fun with natural weapons like his claws. Both men grabbed books on what they first thought about and sat down. Lucius thought more along the lines of Hydrus being some form of Harpy or Valkyrie with the feathers and he was already a judge and punisher of those he deemed in the wrong. It made sense. Tom, however, who had a Catholic background tried to find anything on angels, this was also probable due to the same reasons that Lucius was looking into his Greek and Norse creatures. 

    By dawn, Tom had finished two books while Lucius, who read fast, was still on his first text. It wasn’t that Lucius was dumb, because he definitely wasn’t, but Tom had learned to ‘speed-read’ when he had been studying magic and with his brilliance and ability to gather information and store it at such an alarming rate, he had easily read through the two compendiums and decided to switch what he was focusing on. Through the night, Hydrus’  _ horns _ had developed into, well, actual horns. They were curled slightly, extending from an inch or so behind his temples and then curving back and around until they reached his ears, which had also grown pointed. This also threw Lucius off of his book and he got up to scan what was available in the Dark Lord’s library. He kept most of his darker and rarer books at the Castle because it was a nearly impenetrable fortress and therefore his ancient tomes would be safe and the knowledge they contained would live to see more years than if his home was somehow found, which wouldn’t be too difficult if it was found by someone dedicated or suspicious, and then he was ruined by what he owned and his texts would be confiscated and destroyed. He couldn’t let that happen. 

    At nine, Tom woke Hydrus as gently as he could. Hydrus groaned and sat up, taking the offered tea and looking down at his plate of food that was served by the house elves. It was just a bagel with cream cheese and strawberries but it looked so heavenly. He devoured it like a voracious fiend before asking for another and getting his demand. He ate a total of one and a half bagels before he asked for some hot chocolate and a pair of fluffy socks. He was being stared at by his lovers again and he pretending to ignore them as he slurped the marshmallows off the top, as they were soft and delicious, they had been torched (toasted) like he enjoyed most, before he pulled the socks on his feet and then he tucked the blanket under him all around him before turning his attention to Lucius and Tom who quickly averted their gazes. 

    “Are you grown men or are you children. Don’t act so skittish. What are you thinking? What do you find so amusing? I doubt you are staring at me due to my attractiveness this early in the morning.” 

    “But we have in the past,” Lucius added offhandedly as he fixed himself up another cup of tea. He crossed his legs, shifting the book that was face down, open over his knee, around so it didn’t fall. “You are so very enjoyable, dear.” 

    “Mhm… did you find anything last night?” 

    “Nothing that explains why you were changed last night. I think both Lucius and I agreed that it was some sort of creature inheritance, but it may not be natural. Lucius, your family has creature blood in it, does it not?” 

    “It does, my Lord,” Tom nodded and motioned to Lucius. 

    “So if one of the Malfoys has a creature inheritance on their fifteenth, sixteenth or seventeenth birthday it would be considered natural if the creature meets the standards of the creature that they share blood with. Which is?” 

    “Veela… my Lord.” 

    “Yessss,” Tom snapped his fingers and called for the house elf to bring them Severus when he arrives at the gates. “You’ve probably scared him into death or something equally as terrible to make him similarly useless,” he groaned and Hydrus couldn’t repress his smile. He licked his lips after he downed the rest of the hot chocolate, the heat not bothering him terribly but rather warming up his body. It was very cold in the library and he wasn’t sure if his companions were equally as cold but he didn’t feel like mentioning in case it was just him. He was already the pariah no matter how much they tried to make him feel normal. He probably wasn’t. Just his luck. Hopefully whatever had happened would make him even stronger and even greater than he had been. If not, then what good was whatever had happened to him? Was it worth whatever backlash it would cause? 

    An hour later and Hydrus had been taken upstairs by Lucius to sleep. They were both tired and the Dark Lord knew how little Severus wanted to see them. His potions master would be more receptive when he wasn’t in their presence and he was offered something in return. He had shown up, he was quite bandaged and but he seemed functional. Severus looked horrible, terribly awful. He had only been away for about four days, but that didn’t mean the man couldn’t take a shower and wash his potion out of his hair or change his clothes. Well, maybe he had changed his clothes but he looked dirty and not in the way he liked Hydrus to look. 

    “Severus, take a seat,” Tom motioned to a chair in front of him and Severus took a seat, rather hesitantly but not any more hesitant than he should have been in his company. “I need a potion from you. An inheritance test and a spell check parchment. I assume you have access or can procure me these things?” 

    “I shall gather them immediately, my Lord.” 

    “Good. That is all…” Severus nodded, bowed and started to walk out of the room but the Dark Lord stopped him. “Actually, do you know of any reasons that someone may receive a creature inheritance precociously?” 

    “There are some potions that can cause rapid maturation and therefore bring about certain inheritances. There is also the possibility that it was not a natural inheritance at all…” The Dark Lord raised an eyebrow when Severus stopped and gesticulated for him to continue. “There have been few reports of certain magicks creating, or rather distorting the magical core and turning them into something else. I have only heard of it happening in theory. It isn’t very common but the three cases I read about two of them in my search for rare ingredients. Ingredients that can only be found in the supposititious ‘underworld’. They are known as Moirai or The Fates. In Greek mythology, they are oracles. They were common witches but their dabbling in unknown and unseen forces caused them to ascend into a higher plane of existence as something other than human. They supposedly sit next to Zeus’ throne. There was also the case of the gorgons, although they were changed by Athena in her anger, but same concept. They were magical and they did something, this case their action caused an outside object to force this change, and ended up as something other than human. The third case I heard of was in relation to a demon.

    “I’m sure you know much about demons,” Voldemort’s eyes narrowed and Severus quickly continued. “They cannot become human and their spawn do not gain their traits either, they become a true half breed called a cambion, therefore not being truly demonic nor truly human. However in this case, a case of some woman -- her name escapes me -- she practiced with extremely dark magics and she was changed into the demon now known as Naamah… my Lord.” 

    “Thank you Severus. I would like what I asked for at the earliest time possible. You are dismissed,” Voldemort waited for Severus to leave the room before standing up and grabbing the books he needed to look at and then he waited until he felt his energy leave the wards to go to his room. 

    Hydrus had two more horns grow in, they were long and crooked in an odd way but symmetrical. They were small and right in front of the ones that grew curved. He wondered if that would be all of them or if he would still grow more. Lucius had an arm wrapped around Hydrus but he wasn’t asleep. Despite seeming tired, as he had stayed up all night and the entire previous day, he wasn’t tired enough to sleep. He was used to long nights at the Ministry and then he was usually called to report or check in with the Dark Lord. After this he would go back to his home and argue with Narcissa about something or rather and finally he would go to his study where he would continue to prepare for whatever he was tasked with before he finally crashed in his chair. He had tried his hardest with his wife. They were an arranged marriage and they had already completed the terms of the arrangement by having Draco. He was free, as was Narcissa, to annul the marriage at anytime, but they had agreed to wait until Draco was of age. However, with the amount they argue, it was growing harder to go home, to want to be with Narcissa or around her in general. They had, at one point, been great friends, but it all changed. It got even worse when he first cede to his desires for Hydrus, and she had not been pleased. She had been enrages, disgusted, she hadn’t wanted him to come home, but Malfoy Manor was very obviously his and if she no longer liked him enough to tolerate then she could go back to one of the Black properties. Sirius had been cleared of his charges once they had found Peter Pettigrew (Hydrus had insisted that he was given to Sirius since he had betrayed him -- and made no mention to how Peter had betrayed Harry Potter). 

    Lucius looked up at Tom when he entered and he disrobed and pulled on some sleep pants, tailored to actually fit his outrageously lanky legs by a trusted seamstress. He sat up against the headboard with a book on his lap. The other three texts he had brought in were resting on the bedside table and nearly knocking everything else off due to their large size. Lucius brought his hand up over Hydrus’ arm and lazily dragged his fingers in a pattern. He was not like either of his lovers, if he could really consider the Dark Lord -- his  _ Lord _ \-- a lover. They were both extremely powerful, and now Hydrus was just growing more different than him. Neither of the men in the bed with him were exactly human, they weren’t like him. The Dark Lord would never die and was near invincible, not only that but he was the strongest Dark Lord since, well, he didn’t truly know who else had the power to rival the current Dark Lord. Which brings Lucius to Hydrus who would be the only _ true _ opponent to the Dark Lord, and now he was likely going to gain something new, he was taking on some interesting traits and Lucius was just… well, he never thought lowly of himself, because he was quite exceptional, if not better, compared to the other ‘normal’ wizards in in Britain, but he was also just that, a ‘normal’ wizard. He was however normal a wizard could be. He would never be able to take a stance against the Dark Lord and expect to win (not that he ever would) and he would definitely never be able to live forever. He had being a wizard on his side, he was sure to live longer than any muggle could, but that wasn’t long enough and he would grow frail and uncomely in the process, things which Lucius did not look forward to. 

    “What are you thinking about? Your face looks awful when you frown like that,” the Dark Lord whispered as quietly as such a loud man could be. 

    “Nothing important, my Lord.” 

    “Don’t call me that right now,” Voldemort turned the page before turning to glare at Lucius. “I do enjoy your constant respect, in fact you are very wise to be so polite towards me and even Hydrus. Not many of the other death eaters do so and it will be the death of them. You don’t have to be as formal when we are in private and not dealing with business. I may not be  _ pretty enough _ to be your lover, but you matter to Hydrus which means you, in some roundabout way, matter to me as well. Don’t let this fan your pride, your ego is large enough as it is, but also don’t think that you aren’t… well, whatever you were thinking about that made your face twist so grotesquely, don’t let that bother you. You do annoyance, indifference and bliss well but you have an awful expression when pondering intense things that you have little to no control over. Play your game of chess properly and you will likely win, you have always been a good strategist and even I can admit you intrigue me. I can’t have boring followers, now, can I?” 

    Both men turned away, neither wanting to truly face the other. As if looking away, not being able to see each other, made their presence unnoticable and therefore they were able to slip into a false sense of being safe in solitude. Neither could possibly ignore or forget the presence in the middle of the bed. No, Hydrus was far too warm and cute to forget. His fingers spread out, despite the long claws, and resting on top of one another while his cheek was pressed on top of his hands. His legs were usually tangled up in either the sheets, or with their legs but as he slept, in that moment, they were drawn up slightly as his nose was pressed against Lucius’ chest. Lucius stroked Hydrus’ hair, avoiding his growing horns, unsure if they were painful or if he would get a slash from those claws if he tried to touch them. Lucius eventually grew tired and went to sleep, but he slept in a state of alertness in case he had to get up quickly for any reason. He didn’t trust anyone to sleep near him besides Hydrus and even then it was a little iffy with his violent behaviour, no matter how erotic it is to see him covered in someone else’s blood with that mad glint in his eye. 

    By the time Severus arrived with the potion and spell parchment, Hydrus was up with three pairs of horns, all delicate but dangerous at the same time, and the beginning of wings that were protruding from his shoulderblades. He was shirtless and opened the door for Severus. 

    “Hello Sev,” Hydrus said, knowing that it made Snape uncomfortable to be so formal with him, especially when they didn’t have express permission to do so. Severus stayed silent though and followed Hydrus to the library where Lucius was standing in the corner with a silencing bubble around him and a mirror in his hand and the Dark Lord sat on a chair with, unsurprisingly, a book in his hands as his brows furrowed in concentration. “Severus is here,” Hydrus announced, making a display by leaning over the couch and climbing onto the furniture. He was still as delectable as he had been, now he just had the added danger, as if he wasn’t dangerous enough before, with his obvious changes in appearance. Severus knew those sort of horns, he knew the wings, he was becoming a demon just like that woman. Which demon, well, he would be a new one, wouldn’t he. He couldn’t very well go by ‘Asmodeus’ now that he was an actual demon and Asmodeus was also a demon, they could meet and possibly fight (that’s assuming that somehow Asmodeus could make it up to the overworld where they were at). The silencing bubble ended and Lucius sighed, very clearly angry but also he quickly schooled his emotions to seem quite aloof. He took a seat and pulled Hydrus into his lap. Hydrus let out a little whine and then a giggle as he situated himself on Lucius, wrapping his arms around his neck and kissing him, trying to push for something more passionate but with Severus so close and able to cast magic, Lucius, although the better dueller, wasn’t going to let himself become completely engrossed with Hydrus’ advances and temptation (that he so desperately wished to yield to). 

    “You have the potion and parchment then?” Voldemort asked before pointing to the small coffee table covered in books. “Just leave them there. Take a seat,” he motioned to an empty chair before he pulled a ribbon, similar to one that Lucius tied his hair up with, and slipped it into the book to mark the page before closing his text and resting it to against his side. He leaned forward and plucked the potion off of table and then he grabbed the parchment. “Hydrus, come here,” Hydrus slid off of Lucius and sat on the floor at Voldemort’s feet. “Your fangs are sharp enough to pierce your finger or shall I summon a knife?” 

    “My fangs will work.” 

    “Very well then,” the Dark Lord broke the neat wax seal of the lid and held the phial out for Hydrus to drop his blood into. Hydrus bit his finger, his eyes trained on Severus who tried to look away from him but, much to Hydrus’ amusement, his eyes kept travelling back to Hydrus. Severus had no wish to be cursed for his rudeness for staring at the boy but he also didn’t want to give the  _ child _ the satisfaction of seeing him discomforted by his presence. Nobody besides the Dark Lord, the seventy-something year old man -- with nearly as many years of magical experience -- should make him shake and dread making such bad choices as a youngling himself. Hydrus squeezed drops of blood into the phial until Voldemort grabbed his wrist and brought the punctured finger to his lips. Hydrus looked up at him and gave the most innocent look he could conjure. The Dark Lord dropped his hand and closed the phial lid once again before he shook it. It was more like a gently twist of the wrist with two second intervals. Two seconds turned to the right, two second turning to the left, two second on the left and then two second turning back to the right. He did this for several seconds but Hydrus’ anticipation, his claws resting as gingerly as giant talons could be anyway. The Dark Lord summoned a normal parchment and rolled it up as thinly as he could before dipping one end into the potion. As the potion allowed it, the parchment soaked the potion into it’s grain before the entire potion distributed, a normally purple potion and then blue after the blood is added, turned the page baby blue and when the contents of the phial were gone, Voldemort pulled the parchment from the glass before he unrolled it. Soon, in dark red letters, words started to appear. 

_ Name: (Formally) Harry James Potter; (Currently) Hydrus Black _

_     Birthdate: July 31st 1980 _

_     Parents: (Father) James Charles Potter; (Mother) Lily Rose Potter nee Evans; (Godfather) Sirius Orion Black _

_     Heir: Potter, Black _

_    Inheritances/Creature Blood: None (by blood); demon _

    Nobody continued to read the forming drivel. It would just inform them of uncomfortable things of Hydrus’ past and perhaps enlighten them on the full ability range he had, but that wasn’t important. No, none of that was important, and it all dimmed when compared to the unknown, but listed, inheritance of being a demon. 

    Demons weren’t accepted in the common religion of wizards, especially traditional wizards and old blood, because they were brought when Christianity wiped out their followers and caused so many problems for magic-users. When their Gods became demonized and rejected by the converted peoples of the world, wizards of old traditions and blood in turned refused to accept their ‘demonization’ of their Gods, the True Gods and Goddesses from their world and those in which encouraged and spoke freely and equally about magic. The most prominent religion that was dismissed by muggles were those of the Hellenic polytheists, of those who followed the Ancient Greek -- Olympians, underworld, Gods, creatures -- faith. This was still a common religion in wizarding society although it was also very common to believe that all Gods and Goddesses are equivalent to other Gods and Goddesses which means that there would only be one  _ true _ religion as there was only one  _ true _ set of deities that simply appeared to different peoples in different forms in order to be accepted. They all shared their magic and power with each other because their was only one real pantheon. It was complicated, but for the old families who studied and practiced their religion for centuries in their families, and were taught the rituals and sabbaths of their familial religion, it was as common and simple as breathing. 

    The Malfoys were one family that followed such beliefs and others like the Blacks shared similar views. As in all communities, religion was an integral part of their culture and when muggleborns and half bloods threaten their beliefs, the beliefs that they had held for an eon or even more. Since the beginning of time, beginning of their deities and the beginning of magic, they have believed. Tom was an example of someone converted or who later in life, fell into the belief although he hadn’t been taught as a child. There were less and less people like the Malfoys and Tom with the infiltrating influences of the muggles through muggleborn children who come into the world uncultured and unaware of their traditions. They were also the first to demand something as wrong and throw a fit when things didn’t match up to their standard of normalcy. 

    Hydrus becoming a demon wasn’t entirely unexpected, but their had to be a different answer to the meaning of ‘demon’ in this case. Perhaps it mean daemon, or the helpers and torch holders who helped preserve and resided in the underworld. This made more sense. This could have easily been changed in the spell to suit the muggle standards that wizards were more commonly being held to. Hydrus sat back on the floor and looked up at Tom who looked calm but that was just the mask to cover his rage. Finally, he picked up the spell parchment and held it out to Hydrus. 

    “Drop six drops of blood on this,” Hydrus bit his finger again, this time it was the opposite index finger, and he squeezed out six drops of blood. They absorbed into the page vanishing into the shimmering white surface. It looked like fine silk but it held firm like parchment. Hydrus pulled his finger away, licking the wound and then watching as Tom was doing whatever he was doing. In fact, not even Severus knew what incantation the Dark Lord was doing on the page. Severus hadn’t used a spell check parchment before, but he had seen the goblins use them and this wasn’t what they did to get results. Tom set the parchment on a book on the coffee table and Hydrus looked up to see what it was. The sheet came up clean, there had been no foreign spells that could be detected. Hydrus continued to stare at the page, curious as to what spells Tom had thought he was under the influence of when something started to develop. 

_ Η  _ μεγάλη  _ Ἑκάτη  _ δίνει τη μαγεία της και την ευλογία της σε εκείνους που θεωρεί άξιους. Δεν διαταράσσει τα δώρα της, επειδή είναι η επιθυμία του υποκόσμου. (Great Lady Hekate gives her magic to those she considers deserving. It does not disturb her gifts because it is the wish of the underworld.) 

    Hydrus grabbed the parchment and handed it back to Tom who snatched it from his hands in a way that made his irritation known. Why he was irritated, Hydrus didn’t had a clear answer for, but he had some ideas. 

    “So, your magic really has changed,” Tom whispered and Hydrus got back up on his knees to rest his head against the inside of Tom’s thigh, looking up at him, his hands crossed under his head, despite his sharp talons that poked into the Dark Lord’s leg. “‘Blessed’ is actually a better word to describe what has happened to you. Perhaps I wasn’t entirely wrong when looking into the Christian angels and Lucius wasn’t wrong to look at the Erinyes. Whether you are a demon or a daemon is inconsequential as your power has no doubt grown and your ability to cast has likely adjusted to the new magic that is your entire body rather than just your core. If this parchment is correct, and it is highly unlikely that it would be incorrect, then you have been gifted by the mother of Magic. She is also the mother and watcher of the necromancers and your ability might have brought her favour on you. This is definitely not a natural inheritance but that also doesn’t matter as you are no longer human, but a daemon.” 

     “What does that mean?” Hydrus pulled his hands away from his lover and stared down at them. Could he ever will away the claws? Would he be stuck with them forever? They made his hands look very unattractive which wasn’t what he wanted, but it also made him much more frightening which meant he was intimidating, more so than he had been, and that was pleasing. He could feel the stubs at his shoulderblades that pressed against his skin and then rubbed harshly against all the clothes he wore. He would no doubt be growing wings, and as he had felt earlier, he still didn’t want anything to sprout from his back as it would undoubtedly be painful and he didn’t want to embarrass himself by shedding tears once again. Even when he trusted Lucius and Tom to comfort him when he was sad and hold him when he cried, he wouldn’t hold it against him if they didn’t even want to go near him when he started to have  _ wings _ . 

    “Do you know of the chthonic deities and creatures?” Lucius continued when Hydrus turned to him with a look that spoke volumes (something like ‘do you really want to ask me such a dumb question? Of course I don’t know. If I had known I wouldn’t have asked, asshole’). “They are those who preside in the underworld. They are governed under Hades and Persephone, however due to the ‘mother of magic’ comment I assume that the one who has blessed you with such a form was the Great Lady, Mother of Magic, Hekate. She goes by many names of course. Morrigan, Trivia, Cerridwen, Nicneven, Oya…” It was clear that Lucius was lost in thought and Hydrus turned away to ignore him. He was likely overwhelmed and although he wouldn’t admit to it, he also didn’t want to appear to be stressed. 

    “So, has this happened to anyone else?” 

    “Severus told me about a case where a woman turned into a demon. Not a daemon, not under the old religion, but under the Christian religion, or at least that’s what I assumed as she became known as a Christian devil by the name of Naamah. I haven’t been able to find anything else that mentions her other than what Severus has told me. Perhaps you two could go back and look for the particular text that Severus found the information in,” Severus very visibly paled. He was normally sallow from lack of sun but he went even more deathly upon mentioning him doing anything with his tormentor. Hydrus turned to him and crawled across the floor to him, his claws resting on his knees as he gently pushed his legs apart to kneel between them. Severus stared down at him, his nose flaring and his eyes twitching. 

    “That’s a great idea. Right  _ Sev _ ?” 

    “If that is what is asked of me, my Lord.” 

    “It is,” Voldemort said, not bothering to hide his own amusement. He stood up and took the spell parchment to his desk where he put it in a drawer before locking and reapplying the wards to keep others out. He turned back to them and touched Hydrus’ shoulder. The younger boy looked up at his lover and stood up, pushing himself up to his feet on Severus’ knees and in the process shredding three slits in his trousers on the side of each leg with his claws. Tom ran the back of his hand against Hydrus’ cheek. “Your year is proving to be even more interesting then you had originally anticipated, is it not?” 

    “It is.” 

    “You will accompany Severus, but do not hurt him, understand? He has been tormented more than enough by you and now it is time to play nice. I trust that Severus,” he spoke louder just to let Severus know that he was supposed to be paying attention to his words, “has decided which side is the right choice.” The Dark Lord turned to Severus, one hand resting on Hydrus’ shoulder. “You do know which side you are to be firmly planted in, right? Or do we need to just dispose of you now? I won’t tolerate your betrayal again. You are my spy and you belong to  _ me _ . Do you need another reminder,  _ Ssseverusss _ ?” 

    “No, my Lord. I know with whom I am standing and I’m aware of the punishment if I fail to aid you to the best of my ability--” 

    “Good. Now go with Severus to Hogwarts and get that book and bring it back to me. Severus is to stay in one piece and you aren’t to hurt him, in any way. He’s quite valuable and he has been reminded why loyalty is important already. You are dismissed Severus. Be back as soon as possibly, Hydrus.” 

     Hydrus follows Severus to the floo and Severus gives him the name of his office before they floo back to Hogwarts. They walk into Severus’ private quarters and Severus directs Hydrus to a wall tall and long bookshelf filled with books to start searching through. Severus takes the opposite wall and waits for the inevitable floo call from the headmaster. He would need to either truly choose a side or he needed to somehow satisfy both of his masters while staying as neutral as possible in the process. About twenty minutes into their search for the proper text with the events he had read about, which Severus was surprised neither the Dark Lord or Lucius had a copy of somewhere in their vast libraries, Albus floo called his living area. Severus stood by the fire. 

    “Severus, do you have time to visit me in my office. It will only be a moment, my boy.” 

    “It would be rude to leave my compan--” 

    “No, you can go ahead, Sevie. Don’t worry, I won’t touch  _ anything _ ,” Hydrus called and Severus nodded. 

    “Step back, Albus. I’ll join you in a moment,” he turned back to look at Hydrus who had turned his attention back to looking through his collection of books. He didn’t have much time to read, but he spent most of the summer in his rooms and therefore never got around to packing everything up and sending it back to Spinner’s End, therefore it had accumulated into the collection he had at the school. If he couldn’t find it at the school then he would apologize for his incompetence and then go to his home, by his lonesome, and find the book there. He flooed into the headmaster’s office and he took the offered seat. 

    Albus sat at the chair in his desk, “How was your meeting Severus? Who is in your room? Did you bring a vampire home with you?” 

    “Of course not, Albus. A vampire would kill me in a heartbeat. No, I’ve been assigned to have Hydrus Black help me search for a book that the Dark Lord has asked to borrow from me. I don’t trust the brat but I trust that he will do as the Dark Lord has asked and therefore I am relatively safe. The wards wouldn’t allow him to hurt a member of the staff anyway… Hydrus may no longer qualify for being a student here at Hogwarts. He has come into some inheritance and is no longer human, therefore I’m sure that his studentship could be revoked if necessary, could it not, Headmaster?” 

     “It could, Severus, it could very well indeed be revoked. I will think of a valid and provable reason to have him expelled or have his studentship revoked. If he appears human though, then there is no reason to have suspicion. Will Tom not be convinced that the boy is no longer needed inside Hogwarts?” 

     “I have not been in a position to propose anything to the Dark Lord. He has been quite cross with me as of late and therefore I have not been allowed access to much of anything. Since Hydrus alerted him to my loyalty to you, he has been very angry with me,” he hadn’t told the headmaster of the torture he had endured, he hadn’t told anyone, hadn’t dared to tell anyone in fear of what would happen to himself if he were caught in some sort of fight or crossfire. No, nobody needed to know of the pain he suffered, that was purely private. Although he couldn’t get certain  _ images _ out of his mind no matter how hard he tried, he didn’t feel it necessary to speak out about any of those things. He had been convinced very violently -- more cruelly than necessary -- that he had originally picked the winning side and with Hydrus allying himself to the Dark, Severus was afraid that he had been right in his teenage angst. 

     “Alright, I will leave you to Hydrus then. Take care, dear boy,” Severus nodded and used the floo to get back into his rooms. Hydrus looked as if he had been reading a book but his shirt had been ripped off, it lay shredded on his floor, as the skin on his back broke to reveal large raven-like wings. They were small at first and grew slowly, pushing out from his back and growing until they were longer than Hydrus was tall. Yes, he had a very impressive wingspan. Hydrus hunched over the back of the couch and Severus could hear childlike cries, like someone trying to repress tears. He didn’t know how to react. He cleared his throat. 

    “Have you found the book?” 

    “No,” Hydrus replied, pushing himself up to his feet and looking down at his shirt. He pulled his wand out and started to mend the shirt before he cut the back and then summoned a ribbon. He tied the ribbon around his waist to keep the shirt against his skin despite not having an entire back of a shirt. He tied the front and then turned it so the little knot was hanging only a few inches from the bottom of the longest feather reached. “I don’t know how to put them back so you’re going to have to deal with them being out.”

    Hydrus didn’t wait nor care about Severus’ reply because he put the book he had thought was the right book back on the shelf and continued to look through them. Severus just went back to looking through his own portion of books. It took a few hours, and three false positives, to find the right book and it had been on Severus’ side on the last shelf all the way to the left. Why it was there, and if Severus had put it there for some significant reason, the man honestly couldn’t remember, and Hydrus just seemed happy that he could leave Severus’ presence. He had been snippy and Severus thought he was a mean person, Hydrus was so much worse. Hydrus took the book, pulling it from Severus’ potion-stained fingers and then used the floo, folding his wings against his back as much as he could, before going back to Malfoy Manor and then the castle. He hadn’t even stayed to say hello to Narcissa or to pretend to be nice to Draco in front of her. He walked into the library and he realized that Lucius had actually already gone home. He sat down on the chair he had been sitting and tossed the book on the coffee table, an avalanche of other books falling to the floor. Tom looked up from his own compendium and glared over at Hydrus before picking up the book he had truly wanted to read. 

    “We are eating dinner in the main hall with the Inner Circle tonight. I only had a break from work up to the New Year, now it’s time that I resume with the plans to take over Wizarding Britain. You are a part of that and therefore I want you at my side. This is undiscussable,” he stood up and set the book down in his chair. He kissed the top of Hydrus’ hair. “Go get something on, you cannot wear a ripped shirt to this meeting.” 

    “How the fuck am I supposed to get clothes on over these,” he grabbed the top of a wing and pulled on it, “ _ things _ ?!” 

    “Don’t talk to me like that,” Voldemort snapped as Hydrus threw himself to his feet and walked to the door. “You can figure something out. If you have to do something similar and glamour it hidden then that is acceptable. Make yourself presentable.” 

    Hydrus’ nose flared and he slammed the door behind him as he ran up to the room he was sharing with the Dark Lord and pulled on a robe of the Dark Lord’s because it was much larger than the robes he usually wore and then he grabbed some ribbon and tied his wings down, wrapping the strings around the wings and chest after he bound them together. They were as flat as they were going to get and then he pulled on a robe on and cut the bottom off so that it wouldn’t drag too much. If Tom wanted to force him into nice clothes, then he could just live with one of his robes being mutilated. He wasn’t the one that had wings force themselves from his shoulderblades, was he? Hydrus felt justified in his actions and he walked down to the dining room and sat down to the side of the Dark Lord, at the head of the table, and when everyone was staring at him he realized that his horns were still out. He glared at them all. 

     “Do you want to lose those  _ pretty _ eyes? I have no problems plucking them out if you can’t help yourselves from staring at me,” the death eaters looked away from him but Bella and Rodolphus had been looking at him in a different way. In a way that he had seen Aunt Petunia look at Dudley when he did something that made her proud. He wanted to hiss at them to stop looking at him as if they cared about him but he really liked feeling like he made someone proud. It was different from when he had made the Dark Lord proud, this was pride that didn’t seem to want to use him later, this was honest care and he didn’t even know them. 

     The Dark Lord entered the room and everyone lowered their heads in a respectful nod to him before he took his seat. The meeting went by very slow, but then Hydrus wasn’t paying attention and was just making sure to glare at the few people who still kept looking at him. This was the magical world, horns really shouldn’t have been that exciting, but apparently they were too distracting to get much actual business done. The Inner Circle was dismissed but Hydrus and Voldemort both called for Bellatrix and Rodolphus to remain behind. Upon shouting for them in unison, Hydrus and the Dark Lord narrowed eyes at each other. Just what could he be thinking, was the thought of both lovers. Bellatrix and Rodolphus bowed on their knees, ready to kiss at their Master’s feet and beg for forgiveness for whatever transgressions they had committed, but the demand for them to apologize never came. 

    “As amusing as it is to see you both, supposedly the fiercest of the death eaters, on your knees shaking in fear, you have been called for a much more  _ civil _ reason,” Hydrus tapped both followers’ shoulders and they rose to their feet. 

    “And why exactly have  _ you _ called them to stay?” The Dark Lord asks, he was very clearly amused as well. Their obedience and Hydrus’ formality was all so entertaining to see. He would have to savour the moment or learn how to see the behaviour more often. Voldemort’s spindly fingers brushed against his chin as he leaned over the side of his chair. It was actually quite uncomfortable, but it wasn’t so much so that it was bothersome or necessary for him to shift positions. 

     “You did tell them to be my guardians, did you not? I would like to speak to them about  _ that _ now that I have had time to get over the initial anger. I think I scared them when you sent them to my room during our separation and I would like to correct that. Of course, I would expect you both to treat me a little differently than I suspect you would treat your actual child,” Hydrus picked his feet up and pulled them under himself as he shifted on his knees in his chair. He waited a moment, a second of annoying silence, for someone to say something. Nobody said anything and he decided to continue. If nobody else was going to talk, then he would have less problems to deal with. “I don’t expect you to suddenly want to spend time with me, in fact I’m not counting on it. I am almost an adult, nearly sixteen, that’s very close to seventeen and then I will have no more need for you outside of your support and allegiance during the war. If, at the conclusion of my ‘childhood’ you wish to remain my guardians, we may discuss it then. As of now I do not feel like you will actually want to keep me and I’m still wary about where your heart actually lie. The problem with my lover here asking you to do this, is I know that both of you will do whatever he asks of you and I do not want your pity, I do not want you to take me in begrudgingly and later resent me for something I honestly had no idea nor control over. Thankfully I’m taking control of this situation now. I was honestly too angry to do so before, and despite my recent changes, between sleeping and eating I have had a rather long time to think about what I would like to do. In four days, I return to Hogwarts for the spring and summer terms and then I will return home for the summer holidays. I don’t expect nor do I desire letters from you. I am not like other children, I do not need to be coddled, in fact, I dislike it. All I need from you is for you to attempt to care, to be my confidants when I have things that I may not be able to take to anyone else. I just need to trust you and you need to hold the appearance of being my parents in public, if you are ever allowed in the public before I am an adult or before the world falls into the hands of the Dark Lord. Do you understand?” 

    “Yes,” Rodolphus agreed for both of them. Bellatrix looked conflicted and Hydrus prompted her to speak by waving a hand lazily in a ‘come hither’ motion. He would have never taken the utterly insane woman as shy, but she seemed to be rather timid when she was lost in her madness and mania. 

     “What if you no longer want us? We never could conceive a child ourselves and if anyone in the Ministry or if that bastard man found out, he would take our baby away anyway. Our Lord offered us a child in you and we wouldn’t want to give that up. You are a powerful, intelligent, handsome young man, who wouldn’t want you? To be able to have someone to carry on our family names is also great, the Black and Lestrange fortune is vast and more than enough for anyone--”   
    “Are you trying to persuade me to a side I’ve already chosen? Offering me nice things and flattering me with rich words?” Hydrus waved his hand as Bella looked up, horrified. Hydrus laughed and reached out to pat her wild mane. “I won’t call you mother, nor will I call you father, but I will try to hold more emotion for you than I hold the others. You are of course, giving me something I never truly had.” 

    “Thank you, young Lord, for this opportunity,” Rodolphus said slowly, his words seemingly punctuated by long silences as he carefully thought out every word. Hydrus smiled and stood up, Voldemort’s arm reached out and pulled him back down in his chair. 

    “No, you aren’t leave yet,” he said before motioning to the seats his followers had previously taken. “I need you both to do something for me and Hydrus you’re going to help. They will need someone with your skills to accomplish such a task…” 

 

    Bellatrix Black Lestrange had never thought she would be taking a child to Platform 9 ¾ as she had been taken to as a child. Given, her child was fifteen and she had missed all his maturation into a bright young man, the young man he was; in fact, she had been one of the people who took away his original family by association. He didn’t seem to hold that against her, nor did he hold it against her husband. A man that she thought of truly as a companion, a friend rather than a lover, but still someone she trusted and cared for no matter what. She was in a glamour. Golden hair, shades darker than Narcissa’s and the rest of the Malfoy Family. It was truly like spun gold, rich with browns and mustardy yellows, and it reflected light just as well as a galleon could. Rodolphus walked beside her with hair like her cousin Sirius’ with voluptuous, chocolate-brown waves. She held onto his hand, and Hydrus walked behind them, his stuff already shrunk and put away into his pocket. 

    In the four days since their discussion, not only had the three of Voldemort’s most trusted planned their actions wisely, but they also spent time together, almost as if they were truly a family. Hydrus was very funny, his human was dark and macabre just as the Lestranges’ humor was. How they all seem to get along! It was glorious. They were like a true family almost, at least as close to a real family as one could get by spending four days together. Bella and Rudy made a rather stunning couple, both in glamours and out of them. They were epitomes of pureblood grace, rivalled that of the Parkinson and Malfoy families, and if they were being honest they were much better than those families anyway. Bella leaned down and gave Hydrus a hug. 

    “The last week, find us a way,” she whispered and pulled back, grinning at him. Her ‘crazy’ was shining through. Hydrus nodded and smiled at them. 

    “Is my glamour working fine? Can you see anything?” He asked quietly. He knew that his glamours were near flawless but sometimes they could break, even he couldn’t stop the basic laws of magic and some dictated that a certain amount of energy was used to conceal your identity and he had been concealing and glamouring his appearance since the final changes were made. He was using quite a lot of magic just to keep them stable, and he was concealing quite a bit (and then there was the aching from his wings that wanted to be released). 

    “No, it’s fine,” Rudy said sort of dumbly. That’s alright though, he could be as dumb as he wanted. He had just spent fourteen years in Azkaban, he was allowed to be as smart or as stupid as he wanted, he had suffered a lot. Honestly, Hydrus didn’t care much about other people unless he felt  _ love _ towards them, but he had a respect for all the prisoners who were out of Azkaban and were still coherent enough to function. Even if it was on a simple/basic level, he had heard how horrible Azkaban was. He wouldn’t be caught, but if he was and somehow incarcerated, he thought that his knowledge would work well to keep the dementors away and with the frequency of deaths, he could easily use wandless magic to raise them and break himself out. The dementors were interested in his power, they hadn’t seen a necromancer in so long, but they didn’t want to ruin him. They weren’t too sentient, not enough to have thoughts, but they did have innate reactions and feelings and they felt the dark magic that vibrated and hummed around Hydrus, they had when he was at Azkaban, and they felt his power and that made them curious to go towards him but they weren’t insane enough to harm someone who could kill them. One of the only types of magic that could really ‘kill’ a non-being. 

    Hydrus waved and looked to Narcissa and Lucius who were dropping Draco off. Lucius looked bored, as he usually did (at least when he wasn’t looking indifferent) but he still had the Malfoy arrogance that made him seem like a prat. Hydrus winked at him and Lucius nodded at him, just enough to show that he saw and acknowledged him. Hydrus was followed by Draco and his friends onto the train and he took an empty compartment, slamming the door shut before Draco and his gang could enter. He looked at the group through the window and half of them scowled at him, to which they received a very unhappy look from him in return, and the other half gave him lascivious grins, remembering their friendlier interactions. He watched near absently as other students boarded the train and walked down the aisle in search for their friends or a compartment for their group of buddies. It was all very uninteresting until the same blonde girl from the carriage ride opened the door to his compartment and took a seat across from him. 

    “Nobody else will have me with them,” she offered in a dazed manner before she pulled out a newspaper, the Quibbler? What was that? Hydrus watched her with the most interest he had felt the entire half hour that he watched boring students climb aboard. 

    “Then you may sit here,” he finally said and she just smiled. As if she would actually leave such an fascinating person just because they were a daemon. She put her newspaper down an hour after the train lurched forward with a vulgar jerk and set them in motion. 

    “So, how do your wings feel?” She looked at him with wide eyes, but Hydrus wasn’t sure if they were really wide, or if they were always that open and observative. She offered a gentle smile, waiting for his reply patiently. When it was clear he wasn’t going to answer she frowned and sat back against the seat. “I know that they can be uncomfortable, I was born with mine, but my family is a long line of us. You are a brand new and pure daemon.” 

    “I’m sorry, I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Hydrus glared down at her, but she didn’t seem to be intimidated like any other person would be. Instead she just shifted her eyes from his chest to his face. 

    “I will show you mine if you show me yours.” 

    “... How do you know? Can anyone else see?” She had the audacity to laugh at him, which only stoked the fire of anger in him. She shook her head and waved her hand over the windows. He could see them in the reflection of the window but they weren’t following their actions, instead they were just sitting there in peace, relaxing in the quiet, but that was what was being projected out for everyone else to see. She did a similar thing to the window that led to the countryside, although he doubted anybody would be able to see from out there. She, without hesitancy, pulled her shirt off and unhooked her bra before turning around and letting him see her back. From two large slits, that looked very much like giant, welted seams on otherwise smooth and unblemished skin (aside from the one or two freckles that were pale and faint to most), two wings emerged. Unlike his, her wings were white. So white and iridescent that they appeared almost blue in compared to everything else. They shimmered as if they were covered in fine fairy dust. They flapped wildly for a moment before she drew them back into her body. A few feathers had fallen on the floor and she picked them up and put them on her shirt and small bra. She sat down, not redressing, and looking up at Hadrian to do the same. 

    Much like the strange girl in front of him, Hydrus pulled his shirt off over his head and then took to unwrapping the thick bandages and ribbons he had used to compress his wings against his back. He tossed it all onto his seat before he let his wings free. It felt so good to let them breathe, to release them from their bindings. Some of his feathers were bent and broken up in odd places and far more feathers had fallen on the floor when he released his wings compared to the blonde before him. She was up and stroking his wings. Her hands were warm but cool at the same time and he could feel his sore wings and broken/snapped feathers mending and healing. She pressed her cheek against his back, between his shoulder blades. How old was this girl? He wasn’t going to be arrested for some weird pedophilia was he? He jerked forward, nearly knocking her off her feet and she fell back on her seat. 

    “How can you pull them back inside? I can’t do that. I don’t know how,” he admitted quietly, honestly not sure if he wanted to admit to not being able to do something. She smiled and stood back up. 

    “You’re going to have to let me touch you,” she said as she started to massage between his shoulder blades and then gently coaxing his wings to pull back into his body. He could feel as his skin rippled as wings drew back inside his body. He leaned forward, his hands on the wall across from him as he let his head fall down. This felt so much better than when he tied them up. Shortly after she started working, his wings had skin back into his body, leaving similar seam-like slits on his back as she had. He sat back and stared at her. She was still shirtless but he was alright with that, she was actually quite cute in a non sexual way. He just admired how pretty she was from afar and she went back to looking at him with a dazed expression. 

    “May I see your horns as well?” She broke the silence. “I also have horns, but I don’t have claws like you do.” 

    Hydrus dropped the glamours he was wearing since she knew what he was hiding. She dropped her own glamour and two horns, that started to bulge out from around her eyebrows, leaving ridges under the skin and finally protruding at the hairline. They curled up and in, creating something similar to a halo. Her horns were white, like her wings, but they were also stained with age more similar to bone than anything. His horns looked like some sort of burnt bone, some kind of collagen/calcium growth that was scorched and then stained by the darkest of ash. 

    “You’re not a daemon, are you?” 

    “Oh, yes, I am. Well, I’m technically half. My mother, she did what you did. She didn’t practice necromancy though, no, no. She practiced Divine Magic. This was a gift bestowed upon her by the Gods, or actually the Goddess. Hecate. Just as your was gifted to you. Hecate is the only Goddess allowed to temper in this realm anymore, and only because of the magic which calls her forth. Her gifts are given sparingly, but when we have them, we hold them dear. I thank her as often as I can, only at night and at a crossroad can you properly thank her.” 

    “Soo it’s like a good and evil thing?” He gave a wry chuckle, how he hated all the righteous and just bullshit. He didn’t see it that way. Yeah, killing people was wrong, but he wasn’t the only one who was evil, he was just very upfront about it compared to others who prefer to manipulate from the shadows and lie to themselves.  

    “No. There is no such thing as good and evil. There’s that which benefits us and that which doesn’t. There is also what is socially acceptable and the things that aren’t. We have morals, but those don’t have to be the same for everyone. I don’t think so. My wings are white because my mother’s wings were white. She practiced a different kind of magic than you. She was a practicer of Divine Magic, you practice Necromancy. Both require the help of Hecate, as she is the Goddess of magic, but she is specifically the Goddess of necromancy. That is why you likely got black wings. Black is the colour which represents Hades, the place that she lives. It is only right that you be perfect for Hades if you are a practicer of such sacred magic. Divine Magic is also sacred but in a different way, it’s definitely not as powerful as necromancy. It’s more like advanced but illegal healing magic and while practicers learn some of the same things such as meditating and travelling to the astral plane, most things are actually quite different. It’s an honour that your wings are black,” Luna’s glamour dropped and Hydrus noticed how soft her hands were and she had pointed nails, but no claws. No, they looked very human, but her nails were greyish purple, as if they had been smashed and were bruised underneath. 

    They stayed in silence, ignoring the woman with the trolley trying to pry the door open and then eventually just giving up and walking past them. 

    “What’s your name?” Hydrus asked, suddenly not wanting to keep calling the girl ‘the blonde’. He knew she had mentioned it before, but he couldn’t remember. 

    “Luna. You’re Hydrus, but you used to be Harry,” he narrowed his eyes and she smiled at him, moving and sitting beside him. “The voices told me all about you. I think they’re from the sky, they are very nice to me. They tell me everything. Don’t worry, I won’t tell anybody about you. I promise, a daemon’s honour,” she rested her head on his shoulder and he felt odd with the sudden affection from a stranger. They sat like that for a while but finally, she got up and changed into her uniform and Hydrus did the same. He shoved all the bandages into his bag before Luna cancelled the spell on all the windows and unlocked the door. She also seemed to not need a wand from all the wandless magic she was doing. Perhaps she also practiced divine magic like her mother. Maybe it was similar to necromancy. If they could both be granted whatever they had been granted from those types of magic, then they must have something in familiar. 

    The feast was dull, and that night was even duller. Hydrus sat in his bed with his curtains closed and a book in his lap while the others all conversed with each other. Even Draco was being civil towards him, ever since he cried. He had showed weakness and now Draco was underestimating him. Perhaps it wasn’t terrible, it meant that Draco wouldn’t expect him to be as dangerous as he is, making him even more dangerous in reality. It could also be that Draco knows what made him upset and he had a plan to exploit him, which made Hydrus want to talk to Lucius who would likely be very angry with him if he killed his son, his heir. If only Hydrus could make Lucius get a second heir so he could get rid of the annoying one before the annoying one tried to get rid of him. 

    Classes were also quite boring, except potions. No, in Severus’ class he made sure to torture the poor man even more. He didn’t have to say or do much, and he tried so hard to remain impassive. It was so adorable! Hydrus would snap his teeth after leaning closer to Severus. Everyone saw, he got odd looks from the Gryffindors but the Slytherins, most of them anyway, all knew and were just as amused. Finally, a week into classes and Hydrus was giving Severus a rather hard time, Hermione put her silver blade down and stopped what she was doing. 

    “First you hurt Ron and now you’re terrifying teachers. Why are you even here if you don’t want to learn?” She was close to him and her voice brought all the attention to her. She pulled back as if wounded. Had she done something wrong? She had never been afraid to speak her mind, and she had no problems correcting people’s mistakes. Hydrus Black was a mistake in general. 

    “I would stir that potion or you may end up hurt,” Hydrus started, stirring his own potion anti-clockwise twice and then clockwise once, giving an half stir anti-clockwise again. He pulled the quartz potion stirring rod from the potion and set it beside him on the workstation before extinguishing the flame under his cauldron. Hermione watched his movements, completely entranced by his movements. He was graceful but he was like a tiger, some large cat, or the most basic of comparisons, like a snake. She stirred her own potion but was interrupted after that by Hydrus turned around to look at her. 

    “Now, are you upset that Ron got injured? I’m sure you are, I know how much you mean to each other, after Potter went missing I’m sure you both bonded over the loss of your  _ friend _ ,” he took a sharp inhale and turned to look at the rest of the class. As his eyes scanned over them, one by one, the students turned back to their work. Hermione didn’t know what to do. This was the first time she was speaking with Hydrus, even in the headmaster’s office she hadn’t said much, and definitely never anything that could be considered offensive. Her Gryffindor bravery was wanting her to stand her ground and her stubbornness was doing the same but her intelligence and ability to read others was warning her to run and leave him alone. He was dangerous. He had the scariest professor in the entire school flinching at his words and avoiding him and his bizarre antagonizing. 

    “Why are you so set on talking about Harry? You didn’t even know him!” 

    “Oh really? I know more about him than you did. Why can’t you accept that you just weren’t  _ good enough _ for him? That’s why he  _ left  _ you. You didn’t  _ care _ about him, if you did than you would have helped him. He did what any self respecting should-have-been-Slytherin would do and helped himself because it was clear nobody else was going to do it for him,” Hermione was trying to hold her tears in. She hadn’t thought about that. She had heard Hydrus accusing her and Ron of not knowing Harry, of not helping him, but he was being so horrible to her. What had she done to him? She failed as a tear started to roll down her quickly reddening cheeks and as soon as it dripped down and fell off her chin the other tears wouldn’t stop and she held her face. Hydrus finished his potion quickly before he turned and finished Hermione’s for her. He even bottled it for her and labelled it with her name. He cleaned up their areas as she sobbed and hid her face. She couldn’t just run out of class but she didn’t want to be there. Nobody was looking at her, they were staring at Hydrus as he was taking care of Hermione’s station as well. Hydrus finished and grabbed his bag, dropping their phials of potion in front of Severus. He leaned forward and Severus leaned further backward. He smirked and then grabbed Hermione’s bag and put it in her lap. Hydrus rested a hand on her shoulder, pushing her hair from her face so it didn’t stick to her skin with the adhesive tears. She sniffled and pulled her hands away before looking up at him. 

    “Is he still alive?” She asked, her voice unsure. Very not-Hermione, the know-it-all was rarely unsure, but she was in that moment. 

    “He’s been dead since that summer. You couldn’t have helped him, he wouldn’t hold it against you, you couldn’t help him. I didn’t mean the things I said. You tried, you were doing the best you could. You were all only eleven years old. Stop worrying, stop caring, and stop thinking about him. Whatever you had felt for him won’t bring him back,” she started whispering apologies to herself. Hydrus grabbed her chin and forced her to look at him. She was still sitting but she was almost as tall as him already. She always had a long torso though. “Don’t apologies. Apologies are for the weak. You, Hermione, aren’t week. You are very strong, I just think you’ve been fooled by the wrong people and you need to see them for what they really are. I’m going now, it would be best if you went to Gringotts and request tests be done for your inheritance and to see what spells or potions may be running through your system. I’m sure Professor McGonagall wouldn’t mind you going to the goblins if you need to. She is rather benevolent, isn’t she?” He dropped her face and walked out of the class. The rest of the class was confused. None of them really understood what had happened besides the Slytherins, but even they weren’t too sure what had truly happened. Hermione knew though. She was always so smart, and despite his harsh words, he seemed more down to earth and educated than anyone else she knew. Perhaps she should request a trip out to Diagon Alley during a Hogsmeade Weekend. 

    The days went smoothly after that, but his wings ached to be let out and his horns were also sore, the skin around them was growing sensitive as it was raw and needed healing salve or something to relieve the pain. He wondered if Luna’s horns hurt as well or if they weren’t as painful. His claws were easy enough to let free as he slept although the amount of mending charms he had been using had gone up exponentially as his claws could pierce through nearly anything and would shred things to easily. Hydrus didn’t speak with Luna again during the rest of the year, but as they were all boarding the Hogwarts Express to go home, Luna found him and did the same thing, putting up enchantments on the door and window before they stripped their shirts and let their wings out. Luna’s had brought soothing cream and massaged the stuff around Hydrus’ horns expertly. She sat between Hydrus’ legs and rested her head against his stomach after she was finished and until they arrived back at the platform. They drew their wings in and hid their horns (which did not get sore for Luna anymore, although when she was a child she did have to rub salves and balms on the skin around them to keep them from cracking and callusing, she still used face moisturizer and that seemed to work fine) before they left to find their parents. 

    Bellatrix found Hydrus first and Rodolphus was close behind her. They weren’t in their glamours but rather wore cloaks to hide them. They were getting odd looks but as parents whispered about the strange people hidden under hoods and thick fabrics, the children told them about who they could be due to Hydrus’ appearance and how he was walking beside them. Bella held onto Hydrus’ shoulders and apparated them from the platform and Rudy followed behind them. They weren’t at Slytherin Castle but rather Riddle Manor. 

    “Is Tom letting you stay here at Riddle Manor?” 

    “No, he told us to bring you here so that you could pack up enough clothes for a stay at the Castle and we came here to get some paperwork for the Dark Lord,” Rudy said as he walked up the stairs. Bella followed him and they headed in the direction of Tom’s office while Hydrus went to his room to pack up his clothes in his school trunk so he could take them with him. He took some other things he wanted to have with him while he was stuck in Slytherin Castle as well. Hydrus went to the cellar in Riddle Manor and made sure to bring some raw flesh with him. He pushed through the guards he had created and tossed the meat down to the rabid creatures summoned from the astral plane. They were like a dementor, werewolf and inferi all in one creature. They were absolutely hideous and their heads were like black masses that could never decide on one shape, constantly changing shapes like water, but they’re void faces opened to reveal long yellow teeth that seemed similar to tusks rather than teeth, and they ripped apart the meat. They didn’t need to eat often, in fact, they usually hunted themselves or lived on negative energy and emotions, but he decided that he missed them and wanted a reason to check on them rather than feeling like he wanted to actually see his semi-creations. He stroked one’s face and down its back and it purred but it sounded akin to a shrieking car motor with the snaps of unstable electricity. He rubbed his cheek up against the creature’s chest and it just remained still as he lavished his monster with affection. They were like dementors as they were non-beings, they didn’t have feelings, they just took and survived off others’ conflicts and troubles. 

    The three then apparated to Slytherin Castle where Bella and Rudy had to leave to give the Dark Lord the paperwork and files he had requested. Hydrus went to his and Tom’s room and unpacked his normal things while making sure that his school stuff was all in order (he knew it was since he had just packed it, but it was better to check. He did have some rather dangerous things with him at all times that he had to constantly remind himself he didn’t forget). They were all out into the dining hall for dinner soon and Draco was brought along with his mother and father for the night as Narcissa and Bella had a job to do the next day and Draco was to be practicing his duelling this summer. This was the summer he was to be marked as well, which Hydrus couldn’t wait for. Draco didn’t get the ‘dark mark’ that they other death eaters got, they got Hydrus’ mark. He was the first follower he was promised to have the chance to mark so he was excited to finally be having his own mortal army. He needed someone like Bella under him, but he was sure he already found someone like that in his half-daemon. This summer holiday would be great and it was only just beginning. They had  Ministry to take down and a barmy, old bastard to exterminate. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well this is a really long chapter. I didn't realize that until I previewed it and it was so long! I may not be able to update for a while. I have another story that I need to work on plus summer school, because I'm horrible at math :(
> 
> I hope you liked this chapter, I had quite a fun time writing it. 
> 
> I'm not sure how I want Severus to be in this story. He is one of my favourite characters and I really want to give him a better role than a nervous-wreck that was tortured (poor baby). He will be in it more though... hopefully anyway.


	8. Internecine

Internecine

[in-ter- **nee** -seen, -sahyn, - **nes** -een, - **nes** -ahyn]

_ Adjective _

  1. Destructive to both sides in a conflict
  2. Relating to conflict within a group or organization



***

    Hydrus had sat beside Tom during the latest meeting. Draco had been presented and gifted to Hydrus. Of course the child, honestly too young and foolish to be a good follower, protested silently with his father who only thanked Hydrus for the honour for marking his son. That shut Draco up and he had a pouting Slytherin at the table impatiently waiting to leave so he didn’t have to be around Hydrus. There was a moment when Hydrus thought it would be appropriate to find common ground with Draco, to relate to him on some level in order to control him more efficiently. Draco had been rather compliant after his torture and then when he saw Hydrus crying, he had guarded him like a good little minion, but he apparently forgot about the treatment that could be given to him if he continued to whine and annoy the youngest Dark Lord. 

    At the end of the meeting, Hydrus was joined by the Inner Circle and Draco along with Voldemort. He called Draco to him and had him sit to his left and beside Bellatrix, who only pinched the cheeks of her nephew before cackling. She was so perfect. She offered a warm smile to Hydrus, as did Rodolphus, before they turned their attention to Voldemort who stood with both of his palms on the table. 

    “It is time,” he started, “We will be attacking Hogwarts. Lord Asmodeus found a lapse in the wards, we will be meeting in Hogsmeade before descending upon the school,” he continued to reveal their plans, every now and then a glance of horror was given to Hydrus who only tapped his fingers along the table they sat at. Once everyone was dismissed, Bellatrix sent her nephew off with her sister before she went to speak with Hydrus. She sat down, beside her best friend and husband. The Dark Lord called the house elves to serve dinner to the rest of the Inner Circle. Bellatrix didn’t speak with Hydrus directly but she spoke of him. It seemed too early for Bellatrix to have grown as attached to him as she did. Was this what maternal love felt like? He listened to her and Rodolphus talk about how they were so proud of their youngest Dark Lord. Bellatrix hadn’t been as crazy as Hydrus had been told by all the other death eaters who had frequented Riddle Manor. She seemed like a good mother, or perhaps Hydrus was just as crazy as she was. Tom was busy speaking, in hushed tones, to Lucius who just nodded every now and then before winking at Hydrus who grinned back. The Inner Circle dispersed, and Hydrus new parents told him how proud they were of him, as if he hadn’t heard their previous praise. 

    “So we use this route,” Hydrus pointed to the roughly drawn map. There were ugly ink splatters along the corners and obstructing some of the other details, but Hydrus was in a rush, nobody could blame him. “It’s the easiest way and it’s large enough for us all to get inside at approximately the same time. It’s also leads into an area that leads directly into the hallways so if someone realizes where we’re entering from, they will have a harder time taking us out as we get in because we can have guards at the hallways to keep the others safe. Those guards, of course, I will have no problem maintaining.” 

    “That seems like a sound plan. Where will you find the bodies to keep as guards?” Rudy finally asked. Rabastan wormed his way into the door and muttered an apology before standing behind his seated brother. Hydrus smiled, it was something crooked and quite scary. 

    “I do have some pets, you remember why the cellar cannot be used, right?” Nobody answered but Tom finally let out a long sigh and nodded. “Good. They will be the first to come with me, I ask for you to give me about four minutes and a ten foot radius, they like to bite and I don’t need them poisoning any of you. I will give another warning as we bring them. They’re my  _ bananas _ ,” he laughed at some of the members who didn’t know what he was talking about. He just wiped a tear from his eye dramatically before Tom continued on with what they were going to do.

    “...We attack tomorrow night. It doesn’t give us much time to prepare, but the castle itself is temperamental and can change at any time. The sooner we do this, the sooner we can take it over,” Voldemort sighed and looked over the few inner circle he had with him. He didn’t trust some of the newer recruits, definitely nobody who hadn’t killed anybody before. To think that he had, at one point, told Lucius that his son would one day be the one who brought out his plans. His own version of the saviour. He had put so much faith in his lieutenant raising his son to be a proper death eater, not the spoilt child he became. He was even luckier he had found Hydrus and he had been even more so when he had the dark talent to practice the magic he could and successfully control such dark and truly malevolent forces. The inner circle all nodded and he stood up from his seat. 

     “I ask that you send all those you feel can handle this task. I will speak with the others of my inner circle. You will  _ not _ disappoint me, and if you do… just don’t do it, you will not like the consequences. I will be with you tomorrow night but it will be you that take down all the remaining teachers and aurors that arrive, not to mention any of the idiots from the Order. You know what is expected of you and I demand your best performances. The witches and wizards that will be there are very strong in their own right and we cannot to afford our best fighters to be lost during such a task. Once the old man falls, we will have an easier time. Their precious saviours are gone, all of them, if Mr. Longbottom is brought to face us, he is to be incapacitated but not killed, his influence is more powerful than he is and I’m sure he can be convinced to join us if he is taken from the light-groveling environment he has been forced to endure. We have some people in some interesting places so don’t mistake our allies as enemies or they may change their mind, they are going up against their entire family, everything they believe in and while I’m not so sentimental in my affections for family they are and therefore it must be considered dangerous to attack them. You will know who they are since when they approach they will disappear and dress in their robes to fight alongside us. They will joining us back here after the battle and they are to be treated as we treat all of our own, understand?” 

    The room chorused with ‘understood’ and then they were dismissed. Hydrus left with Bella and Rudy. He wanted them to see his pets and he would need help bringing them to the castle and keeping them safe from any assholes who try to hurt them. They are strong, no doubt, but as soon as people realize what they are, they will start to fight them and they are weak against light magic. Of course, Bella and Rudy were going to help set up protections over his little bananas for the fight and that will give them some protection but he is to send them away as soon as they are all through and then go to the fight and start with healing their army and raising the fallen opponents to attack with them. He was sure he could convince the thestrals to join them as well, he always had a way with creatures and non-beings, a way that he didn’t have when it came to humans and the living. 

    They went back to Riddle Manor and Hydrus took his ‘parents’ into the cellar where he casted a light and threw it to the center of the ceiling so everyone could see where they were walking. Hydrus had long since needed the light to see, perhaps it’s the fact that he was already rather nocturnal before his transformation but it had been six months since his transformation and he no longer needed light to see things. He was quite comfortable in pitch-black darkness.    
     “Okay, you can throw them their meal,” Bella and Rudy dropped the levitating, giant chunks of flesh in the middle of the room and all the dark creatures swarmed around the meat and started to rip it apart like werewolves. They let out the most horrific noise, which Hydrus just assured them was their purring rather than a threatened noise. They started to float back up to their corpse-like feet and then went to Hydrus. They all swarmed around him next and rubbed against him. They sought his attention and care. They had never had a master who was so nice to them before. They usually weren’t allowed to stay in the mortal plane, being conjured and sent away like animals rather than cared for. They didn’t have feelings, but they knew who fed them and they weren’t about to bite the hand that feeds. It was their instinct to appease the one who did nice things for them as a way to ensure their continued care.    
   “Oh, I know, I love you!” Hydrus stroked obscure, ever-changing heads and faces before pushing them away. They howled with rejection and got down to try and appease their caretaker. He started to shoot benevolent spells at them to build up their protections and they then understood that he was preparing them for battle. They just let the wizards cast their spells on them and eventually the mortal presence left completely but their master was still with them and they crowded around him, all wanting to be praised by their leader. 

    Whatever he was, his creatures loved him even more, or whatever they had that was akin to love, maybe adoration for him. He decided to stay the night with his lovely bananas since he wanted to remember them in case they were sent back to the astral plane. He may never see the same ones ever again, there were several in the astral plain. They tormented the souls of the evil and cruel, those who had upset the basic laws of humanity. He would have been one of those people to be tormented, but he had control over them. Even in his death, he would control his beings and likely he would become something similar to him, if he could die. He didn’t know much about what he was, but he wouldn’t mind being immortal. Hydrus went upstairs and levitated a spare bed from one of the guest rooms into the cellar with all the blankets. He turned it and dropped it on the floor before fixing the blankets on it. He stripped out of his clothes. His pets’ touches on his bare skin was freezing but so cold that it burned a little. He could feel himself start to hurt but then it just stopped. He let his wings out of his back and flapped them to relieve them from being cramped up in him for so long and then he let his horns free and his claws grow. He lay on the bed and became surrounded by his beautiful followers. He didn’t need humans when he had so many things willing to serve him without the stupid emotions and fears that a mortal would have. 

_ Hydrus was in bed, and then ice was being dragged down his chest and over his stomach. He reached out to grab onto whatever was causing the sensation and looked up to see his bananas around him, all attempting to call his attention to them. He wasn’t just with them though, behind them. There was someone behind them and his pale hands, such long fingers, pushed past his creatures and towards Hydrus.  _ _   
_ _     “How are you acclimating to the changes?” He said eerily reminiscent of Severus when he asked about how he was fairing in Slytherin, but that wasn’t Severus. He was too radiantly pale to be Severus, and his body was much too long and skinny to be him as well. Hydrus couldn’t crane his neck up enough to see who it was with him. Hands were on him and they were freezing but so delicious, he was loving the attention that was finding him. Every inch of his body was caressed and kisses were placed along his skin. He started to sweat, unsure if he was actually nervous or if it had started to grow hot despite the icy touches he was feeling. Hydrus drew his legs up and the mysterious man pushed his knees apart and slid between them. He ripped the blanket from his body, the sound of fabric ripping caused his pets to pur and try to touch him again but there was a field around him, it shined with light that stopped them from getting closer to them.  _

_     “I knew everything before it happened,” the stranger said, or maybe he wasn’t a stranger. It was confusing. His head was pushed to the side and then he felt something not human against him. Humans didn’t have fangs, not like that. Was he a vampire? Why was he with a vampire? And very characteristically he was bit as if he was being ravished by a vampire, but this vampire didn’t draw much blood, he had been bitten in a way to claim him. Who was doing this?  _ Hydrus didn’t realize he was asleep. Everything felt too real. As he slept, his pets really were being pushed away by a force of light and kneeling between his legs; a magnificent devil, beautiful like Lucifer himself, an angel would be anyone’s guess, but he was so far from it. 

_ “I’m the one who asked Hekate to gift you with this power… He doesn’t know, don’t worry,” Hydrus’ mouth opened as if he was going to attempt to reply but a strangled sound came from his throat and his mouth remained agape, his own fangs drying as cool air hit them. They stuck to his lips. “You’re the only one who knows about this, about me, and I ask that it stays that way, Hydrus,” Who was speaking to him? He was too familiar, Hydrus’ head wouldn’t move so he couldn’t see. “Your pets wish to see you, I suggest you take your fill, little one,” who called him little one? He couldn’t… this wasn’t him. That was impossible, he wouldn’t be able to tame the bananas enough to get past them to get to him.  _

_     Hydrus’ mouth opened and his head was tilted back, then blood flowed into his mouth, but it didn’t taste like he remembered blood tasting like and once blood was finished trickling over his teeth something else was fed to him. He choked as a cool air forced itself into his lungs and to his heart. His heart sped up and he could see a green glow on this man’s chest, he couldn’t see his face, but he knew his face was above him, there were lips pressed against his, feeding him whatever he was being fed. Then he pulled back.  _

_     “That should sustain you for a while longer, just until you know how to feed yourself. I will be back, but I must go now,” then a perfectly manicured hand brushed against his cheek. He was so frustrated, because he tried to look up at this person but he physically couldn’t, he was not allowed to see who was with him. Then as soon as the presence was with him, he slipped away behind his bananas and they came flooding towards him and lavished him with the affection they had been deprived of. He reached out and petted them and they let their horrific purr vibrate their bodies.  _

    Hydrus sat up and looked around, his pets were in the same position they had been in his dream and his hand was even out and caressing their darkness. He felt satisfied, he felt full and content, perfectly cool and warmed, he felt good. He was bursting with energy, energy that he couldn’t contain. He stood up and pushed past his pets with all the care he could and walked up the steps and opened the door. The brightness outside was nearly blinding and he looked out and saw the death eaters all gathered around Tom who was listening to them all bicker with a furious expression. No doubt he was about to get very angry. Suddenly, there were hands slipping over his shoulders, he whipped around and looked up. 

    “Oh, it’s just you,” Hydrus sighed and Lucius looked down at him.    
    “Who else did you expect it to be?” Lucius didn’t wait for an answer but he did rest his cane against the side of the door leading to the cellar before summoning clothes for Hydrus. Lucius raised his eyebrows and set the neatly folded clothes in Hydrus’ hands before he grabbed his snake-headed cane again. He leaned down and pressed a quick kiss against his cheek before he stalked off towards the group of annoying death eaters. Most of them were waving their arms around, trying to get each others attention and then wands were being drawn and there was shouting. Hydrus went back into the cellar and got dressed before sitting on the steps. His pets knew not to come up the stairs unless he specifically asked them or lead them up through them. He stayed inside the cellar, sitting on the steps for a while longer, just thinking and listening to the rumble of his precious bananas’ purs and then hisses as even they broke out into a fight over something. He went down to separate them before he stalked up the steps and started to cast spells to silence and tie people up. He stood around all the bound people with his arms crossed. 

    “You are upsetting my babies, it’s time for you to stop fighting now,” he sat on Tom’s lap and wrapped an arm around his neck, holding onto him. He started to release the death eaters from their binds. They rose to their feet, grumbling rude things that Hydrus ignored immediately but stored away in his memories for when he needed a reason to punish them. Tom wrapped his arms around Hydrus’ waist and sighed. 

     “How are your  _ babies _ ? Ready to fight? I know my children are annoying me, I want to kill every single one of them and the best part is I don’t think I would feel any regret for ridding of the reason for my headache,” he glared at them and they dropped to the floor to kiss and beg at the hems of his robes. He waved them away, bored with them. “Go get ready!” The death eaters scrambled around and disapparated back to Slytherin Castle. 

    “My children are fine, I wish to attempt to call to me more creatures of the underworld and the astral plane, but I’m unsure which I would like to contact. There are so many beautiful and powerful creatures that I bet would love to see this world. I doubt they have been to this overworld and mortal plane for so long. Not many are brave enough to call upon them and even less are strong enough to actually manage a proper summoning.” 

    “Hmm, yes, just don’t keep them in the cellar. I think your bananas are an addition I like as long as their quiet. You are always so happy after a visit with them. I enjoy seeing you happy.” 

    “You make me happy too,” Hydrus’ fingers plucked at the top button of Voldemort’s robe. He flicked it every now and then. “Do you think I’m a demon? Like those stupid demons that the Church believes in? It’s not possible, right? They don’t exist?” Lucius walked into the room and pulled a chair out for himself, he summoned parchment, quills and an ink pot to him and started the task of writing out a letter to the Minister. He was such an idiot but he was in a position to get Lucius what he wanted. 

    “I don’t know what you’ve become. Would you be angry if you were a demon? I hear there are many different types of demons. I, however, am no demonologist so I cannot tell you much more in good conscious. It wouldn’t do to tell you what I  _ think _ only for us to learn something that contradicts it,” Voldemort’s fingers went to Hydrus’ robes and instead of just playing with his buttons, he popped them out of place. Hydrus was reminded of the night, of his dream, it had to have been a dream, but what if it wasn’t? The Dark Lord’s slender fingers pushed Hydrus’ robe off his shoulders and he kissed his collarbone, his fingers still undoing the buttons. He thumbed his nipples and Hydrus turned his head, wanting more attention, but Voldemort stopped. 

    “Was there a vampire here last night?” He asked, and he was serious. Hydrus reached to his neck and found the raised skin of the beginning of a scar where he had been bitten in his dream. He started to panic. Who was it. Better question, what was it and why was it with him? 

    “No, just in my dream, I think he was a vampire…” he admitted, for the first time in four years, he was actually shy and he pulled his robe back over his shoulders and buttoned it up swiftly. “I don’t know what he was. I didn’t know who it was either, I couldn’t see his face. He was… I don’t know…” Hydrus looked over at Lucius and then down at the Dark Lord. “I’m sorry, I thought it was just a dream. I wouldn’t have done anything if I thought it was real, I didn’t know.” 

    “It’s alright, don’t worry, you’re not in trouble,” he gave a half smile, “never think you will be in trouble with me. Rarely will I even be angry with you, you are far above any punishment I can give,” the Dark Lord summoned one of their house elves who brought them something to eat, since Hydrus was likely hungry from not eating all day and Lucius looked like he needed caffeine so coffee was ordered for him and Tom just wanted something small to eat, he didn’t like to gorge himself before a battle, it made him feel heavy and constricted in his movements. Hydrus ate what was given to him, sitting on the seat beside the Dark Lord and eating his food quietly, his hand reaching up to brush against the mark on his neck every so often. He wasn’t sure if he liked it or if he was horrified. It had to be someone allowed in the manor as there was no way some common vampire could have gotten through the wards but who in the ranks was a vampire, or a vampire permitted at Riddle Manor. There was no one he could think of. Who had the possibility to be a vampire? When did he decide that it was a vampire? The man in his dream (possibly not-dream) had done something else, but he didn’t know what it was. He just knew that whatever happened emitted green light. The same kind of green that was in the killing curse. They all finished and soon enough it was sundown. Lucius borrowed one of their owls and sent the letter off before returning back to Hydrus who seemed to have compartmentalized everything because rather than being upset like he was earlier, he was bouncing around in excitement. He wanted to do this invasion so badly, he was glad he got to use his pets. He brought them up out of the cellar and they flurried around the Dark Lord and Hydrus but they avoided Lucius like the plague, none would step in a five foot radius of him and he was fine with that. 

    Voldemort was the first in the air and then Lucius was in the air followed by Hydrus and all of his bananas. They had quite a distance to travel as they met up with the other death eaters before they broke off into different squads. The Dark Lord, Hydrus, Lucius, Bellatrix, Rodolphus, Rabastan and Barty Jr. were in the lead and they connected with the ground first. Hydrus had long before changed into his appropriate dark robes and put his mask on, although he didn’t need to false horns on the mask as he just let his grow out again and his claws extended up his arms and down his fingers like raw, pointed coal. Hydrus warned the others to back away from him for a while before he took his creatures into Honeydukes and down into the cellar where they took the path to the school. Hydrus pushed the statue out of the way and sent his creatures in triads through each hall and then sent another one down three halls to scout even further up. He ran to grab the others before running back and standing with his creatures, remaining next to some, leaning against the wall and reaching out to stroke their faces. Their jaws opened to reveal their sharp tusk-like teeth and he just listened in for the sounds of people running toward them. There were people and his creatures ran to take care of them. They were met by the sound of screams and then the death eaters took off down the halls. It took an hour to safely get the five squads into Hogwarts before Hydrus sent his creatures back to the cellar in Riddle Manor. They took off into the air and burst through the windows much like dementors would and flew back to where they were supposed to go. Hydrus wasn’t sure if he should go with them to protect them but he looked outside to see the Order and Aurors rush towards the front doors and he knew he had to go and help take them down. 

    They had put two of the good duellers out near the front and then a lot more inexperienced fighters out, there were more people there than in any other squad but it was for good reasons. They were there to try and overwhelm the aurors and Order by sheer numbers rather than skill, and while they focused on the younger, weaker death eaters, the older duellers would shoot them down quickly. Hydrus started by healing their men, breathing a little bit of life into them. He ran out into the battlefield and sucked the life from the dying and went to give it back to their army. He got wounded by a cutting hex and he healed it in a similar fashion to how he was healing the death eaters, he just transferred the injury through an exchange of life with another auror he had pulled away and taken down. Soon enough, there were enough down that he could start resurrecting zombies. 

    The ‘entire’ Weasley family, or most of the Weasleys, were there and fighting. However three of their sons, that were available to fight, had disappeared and then there were three more death eaters and of course Severus had arrived only to disappear and come back to fight on the side he had been forced to retake indefinitely unless he wanted to face death (or Hydrus, neither of which were acceptable routes to head down). Alastor Moody, an auror, and his trainees, amongst them was Head Auror Kingsley Shacklebolt, were fighting. With one look at Hydrus starting to pull back corpses, they started to round people up and force them back, away from the upcoming threat. The other aurors all remembered too well the Azkaban breakout and the decimation of their forces. There were six dead, some of the Order and some of the aurors, and then they rose to their feet and attacked like muggles, with their hands and teeth. They were being stunned, but stunning didn’t work on corpses so they continued on to attack. Hydrus drove them back with only six zombies. The death eaters dispersed, some remaining on the front but Hydrus followed his zombies and hid behind them, being as small as he was, and would peek out from behind the corpse he used as a shield to attack the opponents. Once they were far enough away he was in the air in a trail of pitch black smoke as he flew around the castle and busted through a window. His zombies remained standing but they slowly morphed into inferi which were much crazier and didn’t need to be guided like zombies. They started to run around and scream, frightening death eaters, aurors, and Order members equally. Nobody wanted to deal with the undead. 

    Inferi however had a weakness and they were torched. Hydrus could feel his connection with them be severed and he knew they had fallen but he was busy. He walked up the stairs behind the decimated gargoyle and heard his lovers inside the office. He walked up the steps and approached them slowly, pushing through the crowd of inner circle gently. He say Dumbledore on the floor, Fawkes was ash in his little perch-bowl-thing and there was but a baby in said ash. Hydrus walked up to Voldemort and wrapped an arm around him, his hands sliding over his chest. 

    “You have him,” Hydrus started, “What are you waiting for?” 

    “I thought you would like to do it,” he whispered, stepping back. Dumbledore’s wrists were broken but he still held onto his wand the best he could. Hydrus disarmed him, sending the wand flying across the room before he got down on his knees. 

    “You know who I am, don’t you, headmaster?”    
    “You don’t have to do this,” Albus tried but Hydrus put a finger to his mouth and shushed him before pulling his hand back. 

    “I just want you to look at me when you die and know that you wronged me, and that isn’t acceptable. Nobody wrongs Hydrus Black and gets away with it. You knew me, when I was younger. You knew by another name, I had a few, but that part of me is dead now and you had a hand in his destruction. You dug your own grave, old man, and you kept digging deeper and deeper. This was inevitable, you’re going to die at the Saviour’s hand. Harry Potter is going to kill you, because I used to be Harry Potter. The third person you had failed so badly.  _ Avada Kedavra _ ,” a jet of green shot from Hydrus’ wand and hit the headmaster in the chest. Hydrus stood up and the body rose with him, and he was so inhuman at the point, the headmaster, he was just like all the other mindless creatures he summoned and created. He summoned the wand he had won from the old man and tucked it into his robes before he took the headmaster down the stairs with him. The death eaters followed him and Voldemort stood beside him. The corpse walked in front of them and then they watched from a window as the old body was forced to meet with the Order members trying to save them. 

    They all watched from the windows as the Order members started to be relieved before they noticed the change, then they panicked and the Weasley woman shrieked while everyone turned to leave the wards and apparate away. They had lost, they needed to regroup now. Albus’ corpse collapsed once Hydrus drew his magic back into him. He was a little tired, but not exhausted, he could continue for a while longer. 

    In the Great Hall, the death eaters had the professors for the subjects rounded up and on their knees, hands bound behind their backs and wands taken from them and placed in a box and shrunk down. Hydrus, the Dark Lord and the inner circle walked into the Great Hall and were relieved to see that all the professors were there and then sitting on a bench attached to one of the tables, was Severus who seemed so conflicted, but he was darkly aware that he was on the side he had to be on, there was no turning back, he could no longer try to play the double agent, he had to remain where he was, he wasn’t foolish enough to try for any Gryffindor dramatics or change-of-hearts. Hydrus looked down at the professors. 

    “These are all good, they are good teachers, they actually care about what the students are learning and help them when possible,” he announced this to the other death eaters who maybe didn’t have these professors, which didn’t seem likely as they all had been around for a long while. “I would like to nominate Severus Snape as headmaster and the Carrows as deputy headmaster and headmistress. Of course, we need a new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor and a Potions professor. Would any of you like to quit before we make any plans?” 

    None of the professors would leave. They were needed now more than ever. They didn’t just have a duty to the school and to Albus Dumbledore but they had a duty to the children that attended the institution. They were tasked with educating the next generation and that was a very important job, being forced to act a certain way wasn’t going to stop them from keeping the children as safe as possible; it was just what they had to do, they owed the world this. A few other death eaters brought the remaining Order members and threw them to their knees as well.    
    “Great! I didn’t want to see any of you fine educators leave, I confess myself impressed with all of your talents,” Hydrus smiled, “except you Sev,” he whispered with a smirk that made the potions master’s frown deepen before he turned his head to look away. It had gotten to a point where he didn’t know if Hydrus was teasing him or if he was torturing him. Both probably. Their painful session together was much more sexual and even more gentle than what would have happened if he had truly been angry, or at least, he had seen how vicious he could be when he took the life out of you and forced you to live up twisted death simulations, but he had been touched a lot, he had been stabbed, that was very personal. Knives had been used to cut him up and then Hydrus’ tongue had licked away the leaking blood. “No, even Severus here is a powerful wizard,” Hydrus looked down at Filius Flitwick and got down on his knees and then hunched over to be eye-level with him. Flitwick glared up at him, Ravenclaw blue eyes behind cute little spectacles. He was quite adorable, but he was the most accomplished wizard out of them all. At least when it came to battle. He was a highly skilled and proficient dueller and had a mastery in it as well as charm work. All the professors, or long-term professors, were nearly over-qualified to be teaching children, but the best should be given to the ones who would one day lead their community as the last generation had done before them. Minerva had a transfiguration mastery and was an animagus, not many witches and wizards could claim that they had that ability, or the patience, to become an animagus. Severus was the youngest potions master in the British Isles, was good with spell-creation, and was also quite an amazing dueller. Even Pomona Sprout, the herbology teacher, had her abilities that made her above-average in magical talent. 

    “Do any of you object to who I want to take up the mantel of headmaster, and deputies?” Hydrus was expecting someone to say something, but everyone was quiet. Was it because their ‘friend’ just died? Ginny Weasley was crying, struggling in her ropes, and resting on her mother’s shoulder. Molly was different as she looked cold, calculating. Hydrus was also interested in what she was thinking, but he wasn’t about to rip into her mind, he didn’t care all that much. 

   “No one?” He asked one last time. “Also great! Now, we’re going to take your wands and we will use one of these tables and speak about the upcoming year. There is only a month and a half before school starts, and I’m sure the letters have already been sent out?” 

    They were unbound and all the professors hesitantly took their seats at the table that was normally occupied by Ravenclaws. Hydrus sat by them and pulled his mask off, letting his claws out fully. He rested his cheek on his palm as he looked across the table at everyone. The other Order members were all still on their knees. Hydrus expected to hear more shouts from them. 

    “What are your plans, Mr. Black?” Minerva asked, as professional as always but also with the usual hint of concern. He knew she truly cared for all of her students no matter their choices, she just tried to guide the young people who passed through the walls in the right direction. 

    “I would like to reinstate a few classes, classes that we find should be required. We have a customs class, one that teaches half-bloods and muggleborns about traditional wizarding society. This of course should be offered to all first years as well as the other years, but we are sure that those who don’t know much about the world will want to take the class therefore we won’t be making it mandatory. There’s another class that will be another option for third years to choose to take, a law class. It’s important that the new generations understand the laws that could one day pertain to them or perhaps laws that they wish to amend or abolish. The children are our future,” and Hydrus was still a child, which just made Minerva queasy, “we must prepare them to be adults, not to be old children. Some laws however will already be getting changed. There are many things that even the pureblood socialites partake in that I, myself, find abominable, and those will also be changed. We are not going to cater to any witch and wizard of any blood status, they are all coming to learn and this will be a place that they will feel safe and comfortable to learn in. That brings me to the houses,” Minerva’s face only grew older. What was this boy going to try and change about the houses? That is something that is just Hogwarts, it’s something that just  _ is _ . 

    “I don’t want to change them, don’t worry. They are for the founders after all, but I don’t like the whole prejudice shite going on. That  _ will _ change, and you are to lead by example. The Slytherins are treated poorly by some of you and others are cruel towards the Gryffindors,” he looked at Severus before he looked at the other professors, “and some say nasty things about Hufflepuffs, although I can admit it’s mostly the Slytherins. They are truly so different, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t useful. These are children, they shouldn’t be judged because some hat puts them with a certain group. I would like to stop the segregation of houses at meals. We are to allow students to sit with whoever they want from whatever house they like… I think we could start a Dark Arts class…”  it was clear that Hydrus was still a child. He was very young himself, or at least relatively young compared to everyone else around him. He may have been a child but he was still terrifying if he desire to be so. 

    “Who will be our new professors?” Pomona Sprout asked. She didn’t write the letters but she knew that her Puffs may want to know a little bit before coming into the school so unprepared for the change. McGonagall’s frowned deepened and her eyes scanned the stone floor. Hydrus turned and placed his hands on Tom’s chest. 

    “We only discussed the Carrows and Severus. You know your people best. Who should we have help?” Tom smiled down at his little concubine and then back at the teachers. He knew them when he was going to school, at least most of them, he knew that they were good instructors from his memories, but he also knew how effective they were at teaching from Hydrus’ praise, although subtle, he was praising them. He had enjoyed his classes more fifth year than first, despite being more excited for first year and rather dreading fifth. 

    “I think Rabastan would be the best choice for a Dark Arts professor,” Hydrus smirked, of course that was the class that he found the most rememberable. “We have several people in the Ministry that would be able to teach. Lucius can’t leave to work here, but Yaxley could, Barty could teach again as well, although he should stay away from the law classes. Narcissa would be a wonderful instructor on wizarding culture and tradition…” he waved his hand and tilted his head up slightly. He had left this for Hydrus to decide. He would have wanted to be the Defense Professor, but it was a lost dream, he would never teach a class, but he could teach Hydrus and his death eaters while he led them all to greatness. Hydrus just nodded and started addressing the professors again and giving them orders and information from a current student’s point of view. Eventually, the professors were dismissed and then Hydrus made a show of dragging his hands over the Order members. ‘Mad Eye’ was struggling the most while the others just hung their heads and waited for torture. They didn’t get tortured, not yet. 

    “We have some of your people, they just decided to work with us, would you like to come out, Light traitors and our allies?” Hydrus manually tilted all of the kneeling warriors’ heads up to watch as people walked in, their children, their family members. Sirius and Remus were the most prominent as they were the first who stood beside Hydrus. 

    “We knew you were Dark! You filthy half-breed!” Molly shrieked. She had been loyal, as loyal as her family had been, or as loyal as she assumed her family to be. Ronald wasn’t there, he was still at St. Mungo’s, placed in a bed at the Janus Thickey Ward, where he would be remaining, most likely, for the rest of his life. Fred and George Weasley hopped into the room, as if they hadn’t just seen battle and they waved at their family before they both stood behind Remus, their hands wrapping around him as they moved and waited for Remus to wrap his arms around their shoulders. Remus gave in with a huff and the twins leaned up against him. 

    “You will step away from that traitor immediately, young man, and you  _ will _ come here and let us free. This is ridiculous and no longer funny,” Arthur added upon seeing his sons with the enemy. Was this real, were they really his sons. He leaned forward, the best he could, and looked along the line of Order members, he couldn’t see Fred or George on their knees anywhere. Ginny was beside her mother, Bill hadn’t been there, rather he was still in Egypt, but Charlie was the next to walk in. He stood beside Sirius, taller than Sirius by a bit with the same crazy hair differing only in colour. Nymphadora Tonks was next in the room and she gave a nervous smile to the people she had fought earlier under the disguise of a death eater. She wasn’t proud of turning on her family, but she didn’t agree with their ideals anymore, especially when they started going crazy with greed and just becoming corrupted. Her mother and father would never have agreed, and likely would have disowned her, but they didn’t have to know of her switch, not until she was ready to let them know and to be rejected from the family. 

    That was the last of the surprises, no others had betrayed them, but it was still enough to wound them. Hydrus sighed and sat on top of one of the tables. 

    “They are with us now, sir,” Hydrus mimicked someone who cared and respected authority figures before laughing. “Really though, they’re ours,” they may not be marked, yet, but after Draco received his mark, they would get theirs. He was as much a Dark Lord as his lover and he needed followers as well. Followers who would go to him rather than Tom, they would look up to him as their leader. Ginny had long since stopped crying, almost asleep due to weeping herself asleep. Moody was still struggling but someone shot a stunner at him and he fell back, still bound. Hydrus looked over them all. 

    “Nippy!” Hydrus called his personal house elf. She popped in and looked down at the kneeling prisoners.    
    “You called for Nippy, master Asmodeus.” 

    “Yes, I would like for you to take Ginny Weasley and Hermione Granger to cell one at the manor and take Moody,” he pointed to them all as he said their names, “Arthur and Molly to cell six. Is cell two still covered in blood?” Nippy took a second to answer, thinking about the cells. She wasn’t allowed to clean them up. 

    “No master Asmodeus, cell two isn’t clean. Would you be wanting Nippy to clean it?” 

    “No, no, that’s fine. Just take the ones I asked you about to their cells. Can you make sure all my pets are in the cellar as well? They will make a mess of the manor and I don’t want you to overwork yourself.” 

    “Nippy be happy to work for master Asmodeus. Nippy be taking the prisoners now,” she grabbed them, one at a time, and took them to the appropriate cells. Once everyone was gone, they stunned the rest of the Order members and they called the Castle house elves to take them and drop them in the castle cells, which were must less comfortable than the cells in Riddle Manor, although Hydrus had his own monsters living in the darker corners of the cells in both establishments, so they were equally as uncomfortable when it came to torture (at least torture not at the hands of humans, and whatever he was now). 

    Once everyone was taken to their prison, the death eaters were sent home, or back for healing. The corpses outside were just that, corpses, and they were collapsed on the ground as they had been. Hydrus had no intentions of reanimating them again. He held onto Lucius who took him to the castle while Tom continued to delegate his servants to their homes or to find healing with Narcissa and the other healers they had in their ranks. Hydrus and Lucius returned to Slytherin Castle just as the Azkaban escapees arrived. They all went to the dining hall to get something to eat. Their work made them hungry and tired, especially since they hadn’t been in shape for so long due to being imprisoned. The house elves, while busy taking and dropping prisoners and death eaters, were pleased to be working in the kitchen and making food for their masters. Lucius watched with unease as Hydrus ripped into a mostly raw steak and devoured it as if he were a beast devouring a heart. But there was also something inside of him that clicked with pleasure. He did enjoy the violence and cruelty that his demon had in him, it was all the more fun for him and quite amusing as well. 

    “That was quite a performance, my little demon,” Lucius praises the little Lord Asmodeus. He leaned forward to lick the still sticky, if not tacky, blood from Hydrus’ skin before swiftly stripping his young lover. Lucius lay Hydrus down on the soft sheets. 

    Hydrus had quite a fun night with his own personal Eros. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I'm not sure how to end this, but I'm going to find a way. There may no longer be a real external conflict but there will definitely be internal conflict. Also, does anyone have any recommendations for interesting words? I wanted to see if anyone else had any input or something. It'll be fun!


End file.
